The End of the Beginning
by PlasticinePorter
Summary: How could what started as an innocent affair become such a disatser? This tale follows the marauders from their last year in Hogwarts up to that tragic night. Together, Lily and James encounter tragedy, laughter and more than a few surprises along the way
1. Chapter 1: A Fresh Start

The End of the Beginning

Chapter One: The Fresh start

"Lily," she heard a familiar voice form the opposite end of the platform. "Lily! Over here!"

She turned to see her best friend, Olivia Lennon hollering in the distance. She ran up to her much to the disgruntlement of Broccoli, her tabby cat.

"How was your summer?" asked Lily.

"You try spending two months in Russia with five brothers and see how you like it," was the only reply she got from Olivia. "But your holiday must have been much worse."

"I was awful. Eight weeks of Petunia going "White Lilies, no, red roses, no white lilies…" It was enough to drive anyone insane."

"What did she choose on the end?" queried Olivia.

"Red roses. I think the Lilies reminded her of me a bit too much."

Olivia laughed her loveable, but slightly annoying laugh. Lily had missed it. She had been away from her friends for far too long. So long that she was willing to put up with their annoying habits.

Suddenly they both heard a noise. They turned to see a small red-headed girl, crumpled up with her suitcase on top of her. They both recognised her immediately as Annie, their best frined.

"Should we go and help her?" asked Olivia, giggling.

""It would probably be mean not to," answered Lily as they walked over to Annie.

"I can't believe it! Term hasn't even started and I have already managed to make a fool of myself!"

Annie was an incredibly well meaning if occasionally (alright, often) clumsy girl. All her friends would say that she was confident, except for around one person.

"Duck, Annie. Remus is coming," said Olivia.

"Where?" replied Annie, diving behind her suitcase.

"I was joking," reassured Olivia.

Yes, Andromeda Black was confident except for around Remus Lupin.

"Annie, this year's your last chance to ask Remus out, you know," said Lily.

"I know, I know," said Annie absent mindedly. This conversation had been repeated so many times that nobody really paid any attention to what was being said anymore.

Annie had liked Remus since fourth year and now that they were beginning seventh year, this really washer last chance to ask him out,

"Promise you'll ask him out this year?" asked Lily.

""Promise," nodded Annie.

"Before Christmas?"

Annie hesitated. "Before Christmas."

"Ow," said Lily as she felt a book drop on her head. "Where did that come from?"

Suddenly Sirius Black apparated in the middle of the three girls. "Did I scare ya?" he asked playfully.

"No, not in particular," said Olivia.

"And how is my favourite, little cousin?" Sirius addressed Annie in a mocking voice.

"Sirius, you cannot use the fact that I was born two months after you as an insult forever," she retorted.

"I think you'll find I can, Andromeda,"

"Oh no you don't. I have told you a thousand times. Never call me Andromeda!"

Sirius and Annie, who, despite the fact that they were both members of one of the most well renowned muggle hating families in England, got on pretty well, especially as they were both black sheep. Sirius hadn't been home for over a year and was semi-permanently living with James while Annie was hanging on by a thread; were deep in a heated argument when Lily sighed, "Oh no, here comes trouble," as she saw James Potter walking down the platform to join Sirius.

"Hey, Evans. Good summer?" he asked Lily.

"What's it to you, Potter,"

""Nothing, nothing, just asking," he replied, looking slightly hurt. His frown broke into a grin as Remus apparated next to him.

"Hi Moony, how was your summer?" asked James.

"Well, the couple of weeks I spent at your house, James, were great. But then my mother got sick and I had to go home and tend to her," he replied.

"Oh yeah, you said," said Sirius.

"And how's your furry little problem?" asked James.

"Same as always," Remus answered.

Just at that moment Peter Pettigrew came through the barrier and the three marauders went to join him.

"OK Annie, you can breathe now," said Olivia playfully.

"Very funny," said Annie sarcastically.

"So, Lil, does James still drive you crazy or have you decided to actually see his good side yet?" asked Olivia.

"Most definitely," confirmed Lily.

"You know James," began Olivia, "What does he mean by Remus' "furry, little problem"?"

"I think he owns a badly behaved bunny rabbit," stated Annie.

"Maybe, but I think it's something much more sinister and I am going to find out what," said Olivia.

"Well, if it's a secret, he probably doesn't want anyone to find out," said Lily, worried; she hated Olivia's weird schemes and plans. The end result was almost always a broken leg.

"Well, anyway, on to more pressing matters. Who do you think is head boy?" asked Annie excitedly.

"I don't know," said Lily truthfully although she did kind of hope that it was that really handsome Hufflepuff, Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Could be Remus," suggested Annie.

"God, you really do have a one track mind, don't you?" said Olivia.

"It could be Remus," said Lily, thinking how funny it would be if it was Remus; Annie would be so jealous.

"Well, it won't be Sirius, Peter or James. It could be Roy though," added Olivia as an afterthought.

"Yeah, Gilderoy Lockhart is a definite possibility," agreed Lily. "But we'd better get going. The train's about to leave."

Lily ran to the prefects' carriage and took a seat, pinning her head girl badge to her jumper.

0000

Olivia and Annie sat down in the marauders' carriage, but they noticed that one was missing.

"Where's James?" asked Annie.

"You'll see," replied Sirius, tapping his nose knowingly.

0000

James walked into the prefects' carriage.

"What are you doing in here? You're not a prefect," snapped Lily.

"I know," grinned James, "But I _am_ head boy

"You have _got_ to be kidding," retorted Lily. "Dumbledore would never make you head boy."

"Come on, Evans. You know that deep down you're glad that we're heads together," replied James smugly.

"Shut up Potter," snapped Lily.

Just then McGonagall entered the carriage.

"Settle down, settle down everybody. Let's start the prefects meeting."

0000

Twenty minutes later and Olivia and Annie were still debating the whereabouts of James.

"Well he can't be with Remus because he's at the prefects meeting. He's probably in the dining cart," suggested Olivia.

"Unless…" began Annie.

"Unless what?"

"Unless he's been made head boy,"

Olivia tried, and failed to keep a straight face. She burst out laughing.

"You might be on to something there," said peter meekly.

"You mean James _has_ been made head boy? Are you serious?" asked Olivia, disbelievingly.

"No, I'm Sirius," interrupted Sirius.

"Like we haven't heard that one before," said Annie. "But really, James head boy. I don't believe it. And by the looks of it, Lily isn't too happy about it either."

The arguing couple came barging into the carriage.

"I can't believe Dumbledore made you of all people head boy. Why would he do that?"

"I don't know, maybe because, I get good grades; I'm good at Quidditch and unlike you I don't think I'm better that everyone else." James retorted.

"Ooh, that's rich, coming from you. For one thing, I don't think I'm better that _everyone_ else. I just think I'm better that you. Secondly, I don't walk around like I own the place, hexing everyone who gets in my way just because I'm some sort of… of… Quidditch god," she raged.

"So you admit I'm a god?" smirked James.

Lily let out a sound of fury and exasperation before settling down to take a seat. She took out her tabby cat, still glaring at James and began to play with it. It suddenly hissed, scratched her and ran off to the other end of the carriage.

"I swear that cat hates me. It never does what I ask it to," Lily sighed.

"That's because you named it Broccoli. It resents you," said Annie simply.

"I mean, Broccoli, what kind of a name is that?" joked Olivia.

Lily laughed. She needed some cheering up after the shock and annoyance of discovering that James was sharing the position of head with her. She could just tell that he was going to do everything in his power to ruin it for her and she was not planning on letting him.


	2. Chapter 2: Plotting

This chapter is a little shorter than the first but it seemed an appropriate place to break. Besides, I always find really long chapters really daunting as a reader.

The End of the Beginning

Chapter Two: Plotting

A few hours of conversation, sweets and sulking from Lily later, the train was finally ascending the platform in Hogsmeade. They walked of the train and split themselves, with the marauders and the girls each getting their own carriage.

"So, Lil. What do you really think?" asked Annie.

"Oh my god. I can't believe it! Why? Why on Earth would Dumbledore choose someone so irresponsible, so-?"

"Clever," interjected Olivia.

"Handsome," added Annie.

"Hey, I thought you fancied Remus," said Lily.

"Meh, a girl can dream," joked Annie.

"Yeah, Lil. You have one of Hogwarts' hottest guys chasing your feet and you reject him. Repeatedly. Most girls in the castle would kill to be in your position," Olivia stated.

"Well they can have him!" exclaimed Lily. "Anyway, I have to go to a meeting after the feast with James and Dumbledore. I don't know how I am going to cope being near him let alone sharing a dorm with him for the rest of the year.

"There's always the spare bed in our dorm that you can sleep in if he's giving you grief. But seriously, Lily, he's really not _that_ bad," said Annie. Her and Olivia were friends with him when Lily wasn't around and they had begun to feel sorry for him.

"Yeah. He really cares about you. You could try treating him a bit more, I dunno, humanely," said Olivia.

They eventually arrives at Hogwarts and sat down in the Great Hall where the boys, inevitably, joined them.

"My god. I'm starving," howled Sirius, "And Dumbledore hasn't finished his speech yet."

"Padfoot, you practically bought the whole trolley on the train," said James.

"Yeah, and I _will_ pay you back for it," said Sirius.

"Sure you will," nodded James sarcastically.

"I'm hungry!" moaned Olivia.

"Liv, you're _always_ hungry," laughed Annie.

"Not _this_ hungry," she whined. "I'm starving."

When the feast eventually appeared, Sirius an Olivia wolfed their portions down and were on to seconds within minutes.

After a while the mountains of food began to disappear from each table and the prefects started to lead their houses out of the Great Hall. Lily scanned the crowd for James, spotted him and they walked up to Dumbledore's office.

"Do you know the password?" asked Lily, not making an effort to hide the malice in her tone.

"Yep," replied James, "Drooble's Best Blowing Gum."

"How did you know that?" asked Lily who was rather taken aback that he actually had a useful answer.

"I guess I've just been in here a lot."

Lily tutted as the walls opened to reveal the majestic office. She had never been in the room before and was filled with endless wonder at all the interesting devices and weird gadgets. James, however, made it all to obvious that he had been there, done that and got the t-shirt.

"Welcome, to a new head boy and girl. I hope your parents were very proud of you for winning this honour. Well, there's no point beating about the bush, is there? I need to inform you of your duties. You shall be patrolling every Monday, Wednesday and Friday night. Miss Evans, you know the drill. Also, make a special effort to be generally pleasant to all visitors, you are their representation of the school, you know? But more importantly to students, especially those with family involved in the war. Oh, I almost forgot. Lastly, you have the duty of arranging the Halloween. Is that okay? Good. Consult me when you have the final plans ready. Goodnight, Miss Evans, Mr Potter."

Lily and James walked out of Dumbledore's office and out into the corridor.

"Look, James," began Lily. "we need to talk."

"Okay," James nodded."

"Look James, you don't like me-"

"Yes I do," James interrupted irritatingly.

"That's not the point. You don't like me and I don't like you, but we're going to have to work, and live, together for the majority of the year. So will need to cooperate to make ourselves effective. Understand?"

"But I _do _like you Lily. I like you a lot."

"That's entirely beside the point, James. It's a saying," said Lily, frustrated.

"Seems a bit pointless to me," said James.

"Shut up Potter."

"Okay."

And with that Lily stormed off.

So Lily really didn't like him. He knew she had always shouted it at him, but never said it rationally, meaningfully. And then he realised that if he was ever going to get Lily to like him, even as just a friend, he was going to have to make some radical changes to prove that he was mature enough to handle her.


	3. Chapter 3: Growing Up, Well, Trying To

This chapter is a bit longer folks. I am highly impressed with myself: three chapters within 24 hours. Wow! Well… enjoy!

The End of the Beginning

Chapter Three: Growing Up, well, Trying to

"Okay, Padfoot, first off the list: dungbombs," said James.

"You can't Prongs. It's part of your childhood. Throwing them out would be sacrilege. It would be like," he paused to think, "Like giving The Pope the finger."

"I highly doubt that throwing out a product from Zonko's is going to offend as many people as desecrating a religious figure would. Anyway. You can have them if you want, but then Olivia will just think you're an immature git," explained James.

"As oppose to what?" asked Sirius, buffering himself up for a compliment.

"A rather good-looking, immature git," finished James.

Sirius hit James over the head playfully with the dungbomb he was holding.

"So, step two of the maturifying-"

"Is that even a word?" interrupted Sirius.

"No. –plan is to persuade her friends to tell us-"

"-You. I am having no part in this," Sirius interrupted for the second time.

"Yes you are. –to tell us a little more about Miss Evans. But how to do it?"

"We could put poison in their cereal," suggested Sirius.

"How would that help?"

Sirius shrugged. "We could put poison in Snape's cereal."

"Nice idea, but no."

"We could put poison in-"

"We aren't poisoning anybody's cereal."

"Fine," Sirius agreed huffily.

They eventually decided to sneak up on Lennon and Black after dinner, the next evening.

0000

Lily, Olivia and Annie left dinner the next night feeling full. They were deep in dialogue, well, more like monologue about the relevance of Quidditch to the modern world and as per usual, Lily was rambling on about the social demographics of the world. Or at least, something like that.

"I think that Quidditch is just a fascinous means of calming the male alter ego without causing primeval damage. Hunting for example burns the testosterone of the "Alpha Male" and gives a source of tribal hierarchy. Quidditch is just the same really…" Lily went on, not noticing that her two best friends had been kidnapped by two dark-haired teenage boys.

Lily, therefore, continued walking down the corridor, talking to herself.

"What do you want, Black?" hissed Olivia, who was currently occupying the space between Sirius' arms.

"That, Miss Lennon, is a secret," whispered Sirius.

James, who was holding a struggling Annie, said "Come on Padfoot, there's an empty classroom over there."

Sirius and James dragged the girls into the abandoned room and bound them quickly to chairs with their wands.

"Okay," began James. "We-"

"_He_," interrupted Sirius.

"Fine then. _I _need your help with something."

Olivia snorted disbelievingly. "You, James Potter, needs help from lowly mortals like us?"

"Yes," said James quickly as his cheeks flushed.

"Well, go on then," egged Annie.

"I need to ask you about," he hesitated, "about Lily," he finished the question hurriedly in embarrassment.

"I was wondering when this would come. Of course you need our help. Lily is incredibly stubborn. In fact the fates had informed me-" said Olivia.

"Shut up Liv. You sound like Professor Clairvoy," laughed Sirius.

"So," began Annie. "You want to have the power to woo Lily?"

"Hee hee. Woo!" squealed Olivia hysterically.

"Well, in so many words, yeah," replied James.

"Right then. Untie us and we'll get down to business," ordered Olivia."

"Yeah right. You'll make a run for it," scoffed Sirius.

"Sirius Black, release me this second or I will move your eyes to somewhere where it is much more difficult to see!" shouted Olivia. "Anyway," she continued in a softer tone, "Don't you think we want to see you and Lily together as much as you do? Well, maybe not as much as _you_ do," she indicated at James. "But it is _so _obvious that you like each other," she finished exasperatedly.

"Really she likes me too?" asked James.

"Yes, she just doesn't realise it yet. And she never will unless you untie us," Annie said.

"Release them Padfoot."

"Right," said Olivia, "Getting down to business. If you want to get Lily to like you, you're going to have to grow up a bit."

"We're already working on that," replied James.

"And less of the constant "Will you go out with me?" It's enough to drive anyone mad," advised Annie.

"But most of all, get to know her. Be her friend fist," said Olivia finally. "Oh, and try not to be such a general cocky arse," she added as an afterthought.

James frowned.

"Well, I think that is sufficient information," decided Sirius.

"Wait a minute Padfoot," said James. "We need the word of these two." He jerked his head towards Annie and Olivia. "Do you promise not to mention this to Lily?" They nodded in response. "And will you try to put a good word in for me?" This time they shook their heads.

"Sorry James. We can't" apologised Olivia.

"Lily'll think we've been drugged. Or paid. Or bribed," added Annie.

"Fine," resolved James, letting them go.

0000

Olivia and Annie caught up with Lily in the corridor.

"Next time I'm boring you, tell me, don't run off," said Lily, looking hurt.

"What?" said Annie.

"Oh yeah. Sorry about that. We realised we had an essay we needed to finish," added Olivia quickly.

"Alright then," sighed Lily.

Olivia knew that schoolwork was the one excuse Lily would always surrender to. Olivia also knew that Lily would hate to get in the way of her friends' academic achievements.

They eventually reached the common room. Olivia and Annie looked across the room to James who was wearing a satisfied grin.

Lily was dreading that evening. It was a Wednesday and that meant patrolling with James.

James jumped up in front of her. "Alright, Evans, I mean, er, Lily?"

She had decided that, if they she was going to have to spend a lot of the year with him, she might as well make an effort to be civil. "Yeah I'm fine Po- James," she replied in a way which wasn't to obviously forced.

James was slightly taken aback by her politeness.

They stepped out of the portrait hole - He let her go first – and into the night.

"So, where do you want to go first?" asked Lily through very slightly gritted teeth.

"I dunno, you've been doing this longer than I have. But we could go to the dungeons," James suggested. "To kick some Slytherin arse," he added in his thoughts.

"Okay," agreed Lily, pleased with this new James who didn't seem to think he knew everything, and they headed downstairs.

They reached the Entrance Hall and turned towards the dungeons before stepping into the dingy candle lit passage.

They walked down the corridor, opening every door for any unwanted visitors. By the eighth door they were both quite tired but opened it never the less and found, to their utter horror, Snape, in his boxers with his arms wrapped tightly around Prucilla Nott. Snape, looking mortified, quickly picked up his clothes and ran out of the chamber. Prucilla emitted a small giggle before following suit.

"Now _that_ I did not need to see," said James through a fit of laughter.

Even Lily was having a job of keeping the smile of her face.

The rest of the evening passed pretty uneventfully. They discovered two third years brewing what looked to be an aging potion in an abandoned Charms classroom on the forth floor. They also kicked Sirius out of two different rooms with two different girls.

"Sirius Black! That is the 234th time I have caught you at this!" exclaimed Lily.

"236th by my count actually," replied Sirius.

"I wasn't counting the two times that you were alone, sweet talking a mirror."

That made James laugh. Sirius chatting himself up? Well he always had been vain.

Finally, just before the bell rang for midnight, they returned to Gryffindor Tower.

"Same time next Thursday then?" asked James, but not in his usual cocky manner.

Lily nodded and James could have sworn he saw a smile creep across her face.


	4. Chapter 4: An Infatuation, Nothing More

The End of the Beginning

Chapter Four:

Lily met the other girls downstairs at breakfast the next morning.

"Why didn't you wake us?" asked Olivia indignantly.

"You all looked so peaceful. I didn't want to disturb you."

"You know we wouldn't have minded for _that_!" exclaimed Alice Pennywether, their other roommate, joining in.

"Yeah, we want to know all the details and, of course, how many rows you had," agreed Annie excitedly.

""Well, lets work this out logically. They were together for what, four hours? So I am estimating it was somewhere in the mid-sixties," joked Olivia.

"Actually," began Lily, "It was kind of," she hesitated, "Nice," she finished lamely.

"Am I hearing okay?" asked Olivia disbelievingly. "Did Lily Evans just say spending time with James Potter was _nice_.

"So there were no fight at all? No arguments? Quarrels? Anything?" asked Annie who was in a similar state of shock.

"Not with James, no," Lily shook her head.

"Good god, the world's gone mad!" yelled Annie who promptly took the brace position and sat under the table. She heard the harsh click of high-heels on a stone floor as Professor McGonagall approached.

"Andromeda Black, what on Earth do you think you're doing under there."

Annie flinched at the use of her full name. She could barely explain to herself why she was under the table so she simply said. "I was trying to find my glasses. I dropped them I just know they're here somewhere…" she trailed off and began squinting at the floor.

"Black, you don't wear glasses," said Professor McGonagall.

"Ah," replied Annie. She never was much of a liar.

"Just get up," said McGonagall sternly, but she was clearly amused.

"So, that's the 13th"

"14th," interrupted Lily.

"Sorry, 14th time you've embarrassed yourself this term," finished Olivia.

"Yes, four days down only 361 to go," said Annie forcing a smile while Olivia and Lily giggled under their breath.

0000

James was roused by a tickling feeling in his feet. He sat up and looked round to see the entire dormitory staring at him with Sirius standing at the foot of his bed.

"Ahem," he coughed as he approached James' head.

"Why are they all staring at me?" James asked.

"I think your exact words were: "Lily, Lily, Oh stop. No, take me, Lily, take me,"" Sirius replied in a very monotone voice.

James shrugged. His particular nonchalance in this area was so because, frankly, James liking Lily was old news. The only thing that caused a new uproar of whispers was when something particularly big or exciting happened. And fantasy dreams were a weekly occurrence in the Boys' Dormitory. Well, they seemed to find it funny anyway.

"So," Sirius asked suggestively.

"So what?" asked James.

"So, how did it go with Lily last night? I mean, I only saw part of it but-" asked Sirius.

"Oh yeah, was that intentional?" James asked.

"Sure," Sirius replied shiftily. "Anyway, back on to your favourite topic of discussion-"

"Pie?" James asked.

"No, you twat, Lily,"

"He does like to talk about pie. Especially Banoffee," Remus joined them.

"I just don't see how it can be so sticky and so creamy at the same time!" James exclaimed.

"Lily!" barked Sirius.

"Alright, calm down," James said soothingly.

"Me? Calm down?" was hysteric. "I'm not the one talking fanatically about pie."

"Okay, well, I think our plan may be beginning to work. I mean, at no point did she yell at me or even give an air of superiority."

"Score Prongs!" shouted Sirius.

"Wait. Am I to understand that we are celebrating the fact that during a two hour period you were not insulted by a girl? Because to me that doesn't sound that impressive," Remus decided to put a downer on the fun.

"It is if the girl in question is Lily Evans, one of the most stubborn, patronising, beautiful girls in the world," James rebutted.

"Plus she hates James' guts," Sirius added.

"Oh yeah, forgot about that," Remus apologised. "It's just you normally get to third base on a first date."

00000

"So, have you started discussing the Halloween ball with James yet?" asked Annie on the way down to potions.

"I will when I run into him," Lily said. "Are you going to ask Remus?"

"I don't know, no, definitely not," she replied.

"Why not?" asked Olivia.

"What if he says no?" she said, worry in her eyes.

"That's about as likely as James refusing Lily. Remus just doesn't go around parading his feelings like that. He's a little more reserved." Olivia said comfortingly.

"I'll think about it," Annie agreed.

"Houston," Olivia spoke into a mock-microphone, "We have landed."

00000

It did not take long for Lily to run into James. She was in the Library, searching for a charms book when she spotted him. She started toward him, before doubling back. She never went up to him out of choice. He always found her first. However, she knew, if they were ever going to make this work she would have to be able to put up with him. She made her way towards him.

"Wouldn't have expected to see you here," she said

"Wouldn't have expected to see you here," he replied.

For a minute she didn't understand him. She practically lived in the library. Then she realised he meant, there, talking to him.

"Anyway, how did you think I got such good grades?"

"Sheer luck," was one of a dozen nasty responses that automatically flew through her mind. However she made do with a shrug followed by. "I wanted to talk to you about the Halloween dance,"

"Yeah, shall we go for the regular 4th years and above; scary decorations; costumes mandatory; plenty of food," he suggested.

She nodded in response. "Sounds good."

He started to pack up his books into his bag and swept out of the room. Lily couldn't help but notice they way his eyes were glinting in the shafts sunlight.


	5. Chapter 5: Needing Balls For The Ball

A couple of weeks later Lily was dragged off by Annie to watch Olivia, (and James but that remained unmentioned,) play Quidditch. She didn't want to go but she felt guilty that she never went and supported her friend so she agreed to go this one Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match. It was bound to be heated.

The game started well for Gryffindor. Olivia was in possession of the quaffle for the majority of the first ten minutes before scoring the first goal. The Slytherin team then managed possession of the ball and scored two goals before their lead chaser, Nott was hit in the head by a perfectly aimed bludger from Sirius. Lily looked up at Sirius' smug face and she couldn't help but let out a little laugh. She knew she was head girl and was perfectly aware that she should know better, but she had had Transfiguration with Nott the previous year and knew what a first class prick he was.

"That's it," she heard Annie's voice from beside her, "let go a little."

The game continued with Gryffindor's second and third goals being scored. The score eventually came to a head after an hour and a half with both teams at 140 points. Suddenly Lily saw a sharp, red flash, shining through the clouds. She recognised the blur as James and the golden dot in front of him as the snitch. Suddenly he started flying away from it and towards the ground with the Slytherin seeker, Brentwood, following him. He was getting dangerously close to the ground. So close that even Lily couldn't help but hold her breath for him. Then as he was about three inches away from the floor he swerved up to where the snitch was waiting a few feet above him. Meanwhile, Brentwood landed in a heap on the floor.

Lily couldn't help getting caught up in the uproar of voices cheering, red banners gleaming.

"Hell of a Wronski Feignt!" cheered Annie.

Lily however, was still uncharacteristically transfixed on the Quidditch pitch, or more specifically, on James. She watched as he gracefully brought his broom to land and went over to speak to Sirius. She watched him pull off his glasses and wipe them. He stripped his muddy, slightly sodden, Quidditch robes to reveal the jeans and t-shirt he was wearing underneath. The t-shirt's wet, white cotton was soaked through; every thread of the fabric was clinging to his frame. She saw as he messed up his wet hair the way he always did just in case the one he knew wasn't watching noticed. However, for the first time, James was wrong. Lily was watching and she very much noticed. As he left the pitch Lily had only one word going through her mind: his name which was swiftly followed by another two: oh shit.

"Great game mate," said Sirius.

"Yeah that Wronski at the end, well, Brentwood's nose'll never be the same again," Olivia joined them.

"Shouldn't you technically be in the girls changing room?" Sirius asked, though he did not really mind. Half dressed girls were half dressed girls. No matter what room they were in.

"Technically, yes" Olivia said as she took her hair down and took off her Quidditch robes. She went into a cubicle and came out fully clothed in day clothes. "But I'm not stupid enough to get changed in front of you and I really don't care what you've got under there," she pointed to Sirius' boxers before walking out.

Sirius' face dropped slightly. "Women," he sighed.

By mid-October, rumours were circulating in heavy waves about who was going to the Halloween dance with whom. The Gryffindor seventh years were no exception to that.

"So, you asked Annie yet?" Peter asked Remus.

"Not exactly, no," he replied. "I haven't got round to it."

"But you guys are made for each other. What are you afraid of?" James asked.

"Her saying no," Remus said simply.

"Come on Moony, that's about as likely as James passing up Lily, or a plate of pie for that matter," Sirius reassured him.

"Yeah, Lily and I are poles apart and every time I ask, I know she's going to say no. But does that stop me?" James asked

"No!" replied Sirius with conviction.

"Does that hinder me?"

"No!"

"Does it prevent me from asking again?"

"No!"

He turned to Remus. "So should it stop you?"

"No!" Remus shouted. "Sorry got caught up in the excitement."

"And so you should," said Sirius.

"You only live once," added Peter.

"You're young, single and beautiful," James stated, "What's stopping you?"

Remus didn't have to answer. He walked out of the room with all the determination in the world in his eyes as he silently said to himself: "Nothing."

The girls were sitting near the fire when Remus came down the stairs with a look blazing on his face that none of them recognised. He came over to the table they were all huddled around but it soon became obvious that he was headed for Annie. He stood by her chair and bent down slightly. "Could I talk to you a second?" he asked softly.

Annie stood up looking like she had just been sentenced to life in Azkaban. Remus ushered her over to by the stairs. They stood in silence for a few seconds before Remus opened his mouth to speak and closed it again.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Annie offered.

"Yeah, I was wondering, would you, um, like to go to the Halloween ball with me?"

Annie was shell-shocked. She just stood there, staring at him for what must have been a considerable amount of time because he looked at her and said, "Annie, listen I know I shouldn't have said anything but James and his stupid mind games and-"

"I'd love to," she replied, a smile playing at her lips.

"I still can't believe it." Olivia was still in shock. "What we've been hoping for, well forever, has finally happened."

"And I couldn't be happier for you," Lily added.

"Thanks," said Annie, "I'm just stuck on what to wear now."

"It's okay. We'll all run out to Hogsmeade at the weekend and get our costumes. Liv, who are you going with again?" Lily asked

"Oh, some Ravenclaw. Botts or Betts, I'm not sure. I met him in a broom closet. I was hiding from Slughorn –I hadn't done my homework you see- and he was running away from McGonagall. So we made out for twenty minutes. He asked me to the ball and since I haven't had any better offers…" Olivia trailed off.

This surprised Lily. Olivia was easily one of the prettiest girls in their year. She was tall and slim with a good figure. Her hair was shortish and blonde. Her eyes shined with warmth and she always wore a smile, except when Sirius Black was within ten metres.

"What about you, Lil? Who's taking you?" Olivia asked.

"Nah, I think I'm going lone ranger this year," she said. She pretended no one had asked her. That there was no one she wanted to go with although that wasn't technically true. She had been asked by a few people just not the right one. To be honest, she was a little surprised – and hurt that James had not asked her. Though she realised that was ridiculous. She couldn't have said yes even if she had wanted to, which, she convinced herself, she did not.

"Sorry Lil. I'll cancel on Brett or Brad or whatever and Annie can do the same and we'll all go together, manless," Olivia said.

"No," Lily said. "Annie's been waiting too damn long for me to screw it up. You two go; have fun. Just because I don't have a man on my arm, doesn't mean I can't drop 'em dead."


	6. Chapter 6: Like Father, Like Son

The whole of Hogsmeade was awash with tacky decorations, fake cobwebs and ridiculous amounts of candy. In the week before Halloween it was not difficult to find a shop selling scary costumes. The girls walked into one of many and began to peer around. Olivia found a fairly revealing 20's flapper-girl costume with ease. It was obvious what her plans for the evening entailed. Annie, on the other hand, favoured a pretty, old style dress which Lily knew Remus would have loved. Lily was finding it very difficult to find anything in between. Eventually, her eyes hit it while scaling the racks. She picked it up and turned toward her friends.

"Perfect," Annie smiled.

The ball was drawing on apace. It was, in fact, less than an hour away and James, being James, was yet to find anything to wear. He looked over at his friends who had all found their costumes weeks ago. Remus was looking particularly dashing in a tuxedo, dressed as Dracula, with red paint around his mouth.

"What am I gonna do?" James asked pleadingly.

"Don't look at me," said Sirius from a rather impressive centaur costume. Even the ghostly sheet over Peter's head was less pathetic than nothing. It was James' own stupid fault. It was him who had said to Lily, "4th years and above; scary decorations; costumes mandatory; plenty of food." He was such an idiot. Then suddenly James had an idea. He strode across the room to the suit of armour. He removed the helmet and arm pieces. Then he put on the torso protector and leg parts before cinching the belt around his waist, sword and all. He took off his glasses and ruffled his hair, turning around.

"What do you think?"

"Very dashing," Sirius joked as they all headed downstairs.

James decided to wait for Lily when he got to the entrance hall. It made sense to go in together as they were head boy and girl and would probably be needed for something or another so they might as well be together for when someone needed to find them. Then he saw her and any thoughts in his head of homework, of Sirius, of the full moon vanished within an instant. All he could see was the here and the now and the her. She appeared to be gliding down the steps with her off-white dress floating on the air just behind her, the ruffles of the fabric swimming softly, rippling at her side. Her hair was pulled back off her face revealing her cream white skin and the emeralds which gleamed from it. There were wings attached to her back, their soft white feathers lined with glitter and sequins which were gleaming in the moonlight streaming in through the doorway.

"James." He heard a sharp voice in his ear. "James."

"Huh?" he turned swiftly around to see her standing behind him. "Hey, um, I was just looking at the um…"

"Yeah, I saw. You were staring at Dolores' dress. I mean I don't pretend to be any beauty but I know a fashion disaster when I see one."

She really had no idea.

"God, is that an actual potato sack she's wearing?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so," James agreed noncommittally. To be honest he had not really been listening. He had been rather transfixed by the movement of her lips.

"Anyway, shall we go? The ball is about to start and they'll be waiting for us."

"Okay," James agreed as he attempted to pull himself together. "By the way I like your outfit."

"Don't look too bad yourself, Potter." She replied.

And for the fist time in three years, James believed he stood a chance.

Her eyes caught his. She did not think he could have looked more beautiful if he tried. The stupid thing was she knew he liked her too, so what was she afraid of? What was ironic, was the moment she started to see something in him, he lost all apparent interest in her.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs she went to talk to him. He could see her staring at Dolores Umbridge's hideous dress. Or at least she hoped that was what he was staring at, not the beautiful Pamela Brown and her huge rack which she was currently flaunting in a barely there costume. She and James talked for a moment – her heart almost skipped a beat when he complimented her outfit – before continuing to the Great Hall.

As they were in charge of the event, it made sense that they kept close for the duration of the evening. As more people trickled in, the Great Hall, especially the dance floor was becoming very almost full.

James was very aware of Lily's hand tapping along to the music. He decided to go out on a limb.

"Do you want to dance?" he asked.

First she looked slightly taken aback, then he saw her consider for a moment until she said, "Alright then."

Then it was his turn to be surprised although he didn't get much time as she began to walk towards the mass of moving bodies. He followed and placed his hands on her perfectly white shoulders. Her skin was so soft, it was as if she had been covered in buttercream. She rested her arms on his hard metallic chest and they began to sway to the music.

"Is that Lily?" asked Sirius, his eyes as wide as apples.

"Is that James?" asked Olivia, the same gobsmacked expression on her face.

"I don't believe it," Annie said. "Your stupid plan is actually working."

"Score, James!" exclaimed Sirius.

"Do you want to join them?" asked Remus tapping Annie on the shoulder. She nodded and they too were swallowed by the sea of people leaving Olivia and Sirius looking shiftily at each other.

"Come on." Olivia grabbed her date by the wrist. "Let's dance."

The song was coming to an end and James looked up to Lily's face and saw something he had never seen of her before, a genuine smile. And it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. He considered kissing her then and there but even he was not that stupid. He knew she would pull away. So instead he memorised everything about that smile: the curve of her mouth; the crinkles it created in her nose; the creases in her chin; the exact hue her cheeks flushed and he promised himself that the next time he saw that smile he would kiss her whether that was tomorrow or ten years from now. If she was married or a hundred people were watching, it didn't matter; it would be worth it. The evening was drawing to a close: those with tests the next day were beginning to depart. Dumbledore approached the platform to say a few words. "I am sure you will all agree with me when I say this has been a splendid evening complete with great food, great music and of course, great people. However, none of this could have been made possible without our fully competent heads, James Potter and Lily Evans." He gestured to Lily and James who were standing in the corner. And there it was, playing at her lips again. That smile. And without caring that about a hundred people could see, he kissed her.

He did not know how long it was before he came up but as he did he could feel the glare of a hundred people breaking through his armour. He held his hand out softly to Lily gesturing towards the door indicating a short conversation. Lily had to consider for a moment but she eventually grasped his fingers and let him lead her out of the door. When they got outside she suddenly turned to him, her face completely different. This was the Lily Evans he knew.

"What the hell were you thinking back there?" Lily exclaimed. "What's the whole school going to think of me now? I mean, I know it doesn't matter for you, you're known for this, but not me. What about me?"

"I'm sorry," James attempted. "But I didn't see you disputing at the time."

Lily gulped. She knew this was true. She had gotten so caught up in the moment and she had to admit he was an awfully good kisser. "Sorry, I shouldn't have had a go at you," she admitted softly. "It's as much my fault as it is yours."

"Sorry," he repeated. He sat down on a bench.

"It's alright," she said, sitting down next to him. She put her hands out to his head and all of a sudden she was holding his face. "Shh," she hushed as he opened his mouth to dispute. She put one finger across his lips, closing them. She ran her other fingers through his hair, pulled his head closer towards hers and for the second time that night, kissed him.

This time he did not pull away to see hundreds of eyes. He saw only one pair of green emeralds glistening at him in the candlelight.

"Sorry," she said as she ran her finger down his face and swept back up the stairs, her dress glinting in the flickering light.

At that moment, Sirius and Remus ran through the doors from the Great Hall to see James clutching at his cheek in the place where Lily had stroked it.

"Sorry mate," Sirius said. "You okay?"

James vaguely nodded.

Remus looked at where James' hand was clutching at his cheek. "We heard a bit of shouting. Did she slap you?" he asked kindly.

"Huh," James looked up and Sirius gestured towards his cheek. "Oh, um, yeah. She was mad. Stormed off."

"Well, you've always got a chance to reconcile tomorrow at patrol," Sirius said brightly.

"Come on, let's go get you cleaned up," Remus said, leading James, still in shock, up the stairs.

James did not know why he had lied to his friends. He supposed it was because he wasn't sure himself what the last few minutes meant to him, let alone Lily and he doubted Lily was too keen on the whole school finding out by morning either, so until he talked to her, it was his secret.


	7. Chapter 7: To Date, Or Not To Date

Up in the girls' dormitory the three of them were talking about the events of the evening.

"We were so close," said Annie. "He almost kissed me but then he ran out with Sirius to go comfort James."

Lily felt beyond guilty. "I am so sorry Annie. I ruin everything."

"It's alright. He was trying it on. You deserved the chance to give him the old one two. Besides, I'm sure we'll get a chance to next time. He's taking me out next week," she said, a grin splitting her face.

"That's great," Lily said.

Olivia was not going to say anything to her best friend but secretly she felt quite sorry for James. Lily had been asking for it, dancing with him when she knows how much she means to him. Olivia had been on the same Quidditch team as James for the past six years and seen him go through every degree of affection for Lily. She was pretty close friends with him and, as much as she loved Lily, found it hard to see him get so hurt.

The next day passed fairly uneventfully for Lily and James apart from the odd stare from witnesses of the event the previous night. James was intending to meet Lily in the common room at the usual time, however he was severely doubtful that she would come. Nevertheless she was there at 8.30 on the dot as always like nothing had ever happened.

"Come on," she chirped. She was feeling a bit guilty for brushing him off like that the previous evening so she decided she was going to make a conscious effort to be pleasant.

They set off into the maze of dark corridors, searching for misdemeanours. They were in the charms corridor before they found their first victims of the night, two Slytherins practising some particularly nasty hexes and curses on a small Hufflepuff boy. They ushered them out of the room leaving Lily and James in an empty dark classroom.

"So," Lily began, sitting down on a desk.

"So," James repeated sitting next to her. There was an electricity in the air; a magnetic force drawing them together. He put his arms behind her head, losing his fingers in her mane of red hair and pulled her into him. He soaked up every inch of her, breathing in her slight scent of berries and roses. She rested her hands on his thick muscular biceps, squeezing them slightly. They were hard and firm. He moved his arm from behind her head to her knee, then he moved his hand slightly up her thigh. Suddenly she placed her hand on top of his, stopping him. She stood up. "Not yet," she whispered in his ear before turning and hurrying out of the room.

He ran into her on the northern stairwell on the way to astronomy the following day.

"Lily," he called after her. "I need to talk to you."

She turned around and ran back up to meet him.

"What?" she said, annoyed. "Is this about last night because I really don't want to-"

James cut across her. "Why can't you just admit we're dating?" he asked.

"Groping in a closet is not dating. It isn't dating until the guy spends money," she replied.

"Fine, I'll spend some money, we'll grope, happy?" he asked.

"No," she said. "It's embarrassing. I've spent the past four years avoiding precisely this. I can't suddenly turn around and decide, actually, James Potter, I do fancy the pants off you, just like every other girl in this school. Plus we'd probably decide a week later that we can't stand each other after all. We'll be the laughing stock of the school for the rest of the century."

"What makes you say that?" James asked.

"Oh come on. We're poles apart. The only thing we have in common is an admiration of your six-pack," she said.

He laughed. "Okay, I've got a compromise for you. We'll date for a month in secret. If after that we still can't stand each other we'll break up and no one will ever be any the wiser."

"And if not?" she asked.

"We'll take it from there I s'pose," he said.

"I'll think about it," she said as she ran down the stairs to class.

James went about the rest of the day with a smug grin plastered on his face. Sirius noticed it; his teachers noticed it; even Snape noticed it.

"What's up with you, Prongs?" Sirius asked him in Potions. "You look like you've just won the lottery."

"That's because I'm the luckiest man in the world," he replied simply.


	8. Chapter 8: My Everything

Lily could tell that patrol that night was going to be fun as she came down the stairs to meet James. He grasped her hand as soon as she was near enough.

She gave him a look.

"Sorry, didn't mean to be so obvious," he said as they headed downstairs. "I think we should check the Great Hall," he stated.

She looked puzzled. He knew as well as she did that there was barely ever anyone in the Great Hall at night; there was no where to hide. He knew something she didn't.

They continued downstairs. As they approached the second floor he suddenly grabbed her by the waist, pulled her body towards his own, pressing his chest against hers, and kissed her passionately. She was slightly taken aback, but smiled nonetheless. She seemed to appreciate this type of treatment which, considering what he had planned was pretty lucky.

They entered the Great Hall smiling and laughing together. Lily scoured the place with her eyes, glimpsing round until she saw what was lying in the centre of the room. She left James standing at the entrance to examine it further. On closer inspection she discovered that it was a blanket with a picnic basket resting on top of it. She looked up and saw a sea of stars.

"Surprise," she heard a voice behind her say softly.

She felt James' hand on her shoulder: his cheek gently caressing her own. She heard the whip of James' wand as music started up: Barry White's voice crooning "My first, My last, My everything." James opened the basket and picked up a strawberry and a pot of cream. He opened the pot of cream and dipped the strawberry in.

"Open wide," he demanded.

She easily gave in as he slipped the strawberry into her mouth.

"Your turn," she said, dipping her finger into the cream and offering it to him. He leaned forward and gently licked it clean. He followed by dousing his finger in cream and dabbing both his and her nose with it. He licked her nose clean as she did the same to him.

He took her hand and placed it on his shoulder as he placed his own hand on her lower back. He held her other hand and began to sway to the music gently with her. As the last chorus was finishing, James echoed the words of Barry White, "You are, you know, Lily." He paused. "My everything."

Lily went back to the common room that night desperate to tell someone about the amazing night she had just had: Desperate to tell someone how romantic James Potter could really be. Then she realised that was exactly what James wanted her to do. She may be head over heels for him, she may even like him, but she was not going to let him win. She could wait until December to gloat about her wonderful boyfriend. Couldn't she?

James was pretty pleased with his handiwork. The only problem now was keeping his frigging mouth shut. But hey, if he could keep quiet that he had been an animagus for the past two years he could sure as hell handle shutting up about a girl. I mean, he had had thousands of them. But Lily was different. All the others had known that they weren't getting his full attention, that James was bound to be fooling around with some other girl simultaneously; he was bound to be thinking about Lily twice as often as he was thinking about them. But Lily was getting the full package and James knew that it was only a matter of time before this began to show.

"Moony," he said tentatively, heading into the boys dormitory.

"What time is it James?" Remus asked, sitting up.

"Round 'bout midnight," replied James. "I was just checking we're still on for tomorrow. You know, full moon and all."

"Yes, now let me get to sleep, we can talk about this in the morning."

James went to sleep with a kind of a buzz running through his veins. He always got excited around the full moon but this month he had a feeling something else was contributing.


	9. Chapter 9: A Discovery

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs met half an hour before sunset by the entrance of the Great Hall. They began moving down towards the Forbidden Forrest. As soon as they got to a spot which was far enough away so that they wouldn't be seen, Peter drew out his wand. He closed his eyes and frowned, concentrating hard as he disappeared and a rat appeared where he had been standing previously. He crawled forward, scurrying toward the whomping willow, dodging its branches. He reached the knob on the bottom of the trunk of the tree and pushed it with his snout. The branches suddenly stopped, frozen. Then the three other boys dropped to the floor, crawled towards the tree and slithered through the small hole in the trunk. A feat which, to any other 6"2 boys would be impossible. However, due to the fact they had been doing it once a month for the past three years, it was almost second nature. They reached the other end of the tunnel a few minutes later and entered the small house at the end of the passageway or the "shrieking shack" as it was known.

They were all awoken the next morning by the sounds of the marauders laughing loudly about the last nights mischief in the common room. They were recounting a particularly funny tale involving the giant squid when a voice form the top of the stairs bellowed down: "Do you mind? Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"Sorry Liv!" Sirius shouted back just as loudly. "I could come into bed with you if it makes it any easier." However he was answered only by her pillow which flew down the stairs and hit him on the head.

"Ow. You know, sometimes I get the impression she doesn't even like me…" Sirius trailed off. "Anyway Prongs, are you going to tell us what you've been so chipper about the past few days?"

James only tapped his nose in reply.

There was a unanimous decision to go down to breakfast. They were walking down the marble stairs to the entrance hall when a girl with a surly face and dark curly hair bumped into them, making their bags spill everywhere.

"Oh, sorry Potter," she said sarcastically with a grin on her face. "Blood traitors should look where they're going. The filth you're mixing with could start to cloud your vision."

"Bella, my favourite cousin. How are you?" Sirius asked her in an equally sarcastic manner.

Bellatrix's already thin, blue eyes narrowed even further. "You want to watch that you don't hang around with people that are too…clumsy." She turned, her black curls bobbing behind her and stalked out of the entrance hall.

He didn't see Lily until lunchtime that day and even then she was surrounded by a pack of girls. As he started to come over to her, she made a twitching movement with her eyes which could be roughly translated as. "For God's sake, not now!"

James did not manage to get her on her own before patrol time. When they eventually met in the common room, he was slightly relieved.

"I was beginning to think you were avoiding me."

"Well, I am. I always do. That's what everyone needs to think, anyway," Lily replied.

"Yeah, I s'pose. Remind me, why are we doing this?" he asked

"Because it's necessary, because I don't like looking like an idiot and a million other reasons. Plus, it makes it all the more fun when I _do _get to see you," she replied.

"I guess it being a secret does make the idea of seeing you at the end of the day even sexier," James agreed, moving closer to her.

"Hey, hey, hey," she backed away. "We are no where near that stage yet."

"I know. I don't even want to rush anything. I could spend a forever just looking at you: gazing into your eyes…"

She hit him playfully on the arm. "Alright. Soppy much? Aren't you supposed to be James Potter, king of cool."

"You know I make an exception for you, Miss Evans," he replied in a most prim tone.

"What an honour."

"Anything for you, my lady."

"A kiss?"

"You're wish is my command," James barely said before leaning in to kiss her. Neither of them could quite believe it. They were playing, being silly and generally enjoying each other's company. At that moment Lily genuinely believed that they could have sat there talking, laughing all night. The affair started by raging hormones was beginning to turn into something of actual substance. And as they went off to patrol they both knew that James would win the bet and they would eventually have to tell their friends. Little did they know, one of them already knew.

Sirius was restless. Although almost 24 hours had passed since his discovery, he had not yet divulged the information. It was the sort of gossip he would have usually saved for James who was out of the question.

To be honest, he couldn't quite believe it. He couldn't help but wonder how and why Lily had suddenly changed her mind. It couldn't have been James' plan. It was a stupid plan. The whole thing had obviously started when they kissed in the Great Hall at Halloween. Lily hadn't been nearly angry enough about that. God, for just that to have completely changed Lily's mind on James being an obnoxious prat, that must have been one hell of a kiss.

And this still didn't explain why he had not known sooner. He was James' best friend for God's sake. He knew he could be a bit of a gossip but did James really trust him that little? That was when he had an idea: An ingenious plan of sorts. And he knew what he needed to do.

"Liv, I need your help."

"What for, Black?" said Olivia as she eyed him suspiciously.

"I have some information you may be interested in hearing," he said knowingly. "Have you noticed any odd behaviour from Lily recently?"

She nodded vaguely. "She's been a bit jumpy and spends a lot of time alone. But I figure she's just studying for some test I didn't bother to revise for."

Sirius shook his head grimly. "There is a far more interesting explanation for this odd behaviour," he said.

"And that would be?" questioned Olivia impatiently.

"She's seeing James. I mean seeing him seeing him," Sirius explained.

"What?" Olivia exhaled. "She hates him."

"Well, she may do, but her tongue certainly has other ideas," said Sirius.

"You've actually seen them doing that? You can't be serious," said Olivia indignantly.

"I am. I have been Sirius my entire life and in those 17 years I have never been more serious than I am now," he assured her.

"But Lily would have told me and Annie. Doesn't she trust us?"

"Don't worry. I have an idea." Sirius began.

"Well that is reassuring," Olivia said sarcastically.

"We need to make them confess in the most humiliating way possible. They need to admit they've been seeing each other behind our backs. You see, they don't know we know," Sirius explained.

"One problem. How are we going to make them confess?" asked Olivia.

"Simple, we get someone to come on to him and then when he's forced to explain why he won't sleep with them he'll have to admit what's been going on."

There was a silence.

"So are you going to help me or not?" Sirius asked after a few moments.

"Oh no. No. I'm not coming on to James. No. You have to be kidding," Olivia stuttered.

"You don't trust me?" Sirius asked.

"In a word, no. But that's not it. Why don't you ask Annie or one of your ex-conquests to do it?"

"Because James knows that Annie has eyes only for Remus and none of my ex-s are on speaking terms with me. Besides, James has shagged most if them," Sirius ranted slightly.

"God, you two really are skanky!" add to dictionary.

"So will you do it?" asked Sirius eagerly, by passing her comment.

"Alright," she sighed, giving in. "But when this all goes pear-shaped, it'll be on your head, not mine."

"We should probably let the others in on this too. We'll meet in the common room at eight while Prongs and Tiger-Lily are on patrol,"

And with that Sirius left the room, leaving Olivia to wonder what she had let herself in for.


	10. Chapter 10: Sisterhood

Sirius called them all into a cosy corner of the Gryffindor common room as promised, at 8 o'clock that evening.

"Care to explain why you dragged us as here tonight Sirius?" Remus asked.

"Yes, It is a little matter concerning our dear friends Lily and James. You see, they have been decieving us," said Sirius in his best mock-serious tone. He continued: "For while they pretend to be at each others throats, secretly, there is a certain amount of fraternising going on."

He turned to see a circle of blank faces.

"Huh," said Annie.

"He means they've been snogging behind our backs," Olivia clarified.

"Oh," Annie nodded, followed by an exclamation of "WHAT?!"

"Yes, but they don't know we know and to get them to confess in the most humiliating way possible, Liv here is going to convince James that she wants to sleep with him and when he doesn't reciprocate, he'll have to spill the beans."

"That is a stupid plan. It just might work," Annie grinned.

"Okay, phase one of the plan starts tomorrow," stated Sirius. Everybody groaned. They knew they had a long night ahead of them.

On the other side of the school, in a deserted classroom where two people who were enjoying each other's company much more.

"James, that isn't funny."

"I don't think you get it," James said.

"I get it. It's just not funny."

"No, because the joke is that I was wearing my pyjamas. Listen: This morning I got up and shot an elephant in my pyjamas. How he ever got in my pyjamas I shall never know."

"Yeah, it's still not funny," said Lily.

"Oh yeah?" James said playfully.

"Yeah."

"Oh yeah?" And with that he jumped on her and began to tickle her.

She smiled and then the smile cracked into a laugh. No, not a laugh, a giggle. Lily Evans, head girl, renowned for her maturity, was giggling. And in the presence of none other than James Potter. Swept up in the moment, James leaned forward and kissed her playfully at first, then he became deep and passionate.

"It's getting harder, you know," he whispered in her ear.

"What is," she asked dozily. She had been rather enjoying the kissing.

"Not spending every moment with you; not being able to kiss you at any hour; only being able to touch you between 8 and 10; lying to everyone…" he trailed off, a slight look of melancholy on his face.

"Only two more weeks," she promised. "Then we'll come clean."

And with that, James perked up a bit and continued telling jokes: "What's green and has a thousand legs…"

Professor Gravenhart was a stuffy-looking old man. From head to toe he fitted the part of a gin drinking, tweed wearing, country club member. He invariably wore a tweed blazer and trousers to class each day accompanied by large brown spectacles.

He was a clever man. However, he was easily unnerved. When nervous he was in the habit of running a large, coarse hand through the grey mane of tousled, scruffy hair that sat on top of his head in a vague attempt to tame it and appear more composed. Therefore, by the end of most of his 7th year Gryffindor/Slytherin classes his hair lay almost completely flat. Today was one of those days.

Many of his students slightly unnerved Professor Montgomery Gravenhart – the marauders, for example, caused him endless hours of grief. However, none frazzled him as much as Bellatrix Black. On sight she was a fairly intimidating character – dark and looming – the complete opposite of both her younger sisters.

Her youngest sister, Narcissa was also quite an alarming sight, yet in an entirely different way. It was her shockingly light hair and pale exterior combined with her cold, blue gaze which gave her an intimidating look.

However they both had another sister to whom they showed no resemblance. She was a fairly plain looking girl with brown hair but extraordinarily rich, deep, brown eyes. She was much more approachable looking than either of her siblings. She was not even in the same house as them.

However, despite her family's history with the professor, Andromeda Black, or Annie as she was known, was one of Montgomery Gravenhart's favourite students. On this particular day however, he was not displaying his fondness for her as she and her sister were having a family feud, a common sight in his classroom.

"Now really girls, that's enough. Can't we all lower our voices – and preferably our wands," said Professor Gravenhart, attempting to calm the two furious girls. Annie's cheeks were flushing while Bella just deepened her frown.

"You're just getting your comeuppance," Bellatrix hollered at Annie. "What did you expect to happen, hanging 'round with a bunch of mudbloods and blood traitors!"

Annie, who had begun to walk away, stopped in her tracks and turned around. "What did you say?"

"You heard me. This can't honestly come as a surprise; you've had it coming years. Going around with vermin."

Annie raised her wand. "She's not worth it," a voice said at her side. She dropped her hand.

"Say goodbye to Cissy for me then. I hope her and her new boyfriends are very happy," Annie said resignedly, walking out of the classroom with Lily by her side. As soon as they had closed the door behind them, Annie broke down into tears.

"I mean, I know I hate them, but they're family and I thought they'd always be there." She laughed. "You know, I think I'm actually going to miss the Black House."

There was a thumping noise in the corridor as 5 familiar faces, all late for defence against the dark arts ran down the corridor. However, they all stopped a few feet short of the classroom door.

"Annie," Remus said softly, bending down next to her.

"What happened?" asked Sirius.

"What do you care, Black?" Olivia questioned him intimidatingly.

"Of course I care. She's my cousin and I knew her way before any of you came along," said Sirius defensively. His expression softened as he turned to face his cousin. "What happened?"

"My sister just told me now. I've been cut off. I should be receiving my owl cutting me out of the will officially any day now. I can go back to the house to collect my belongings in the holidays but after that I have to make my own arrangements. What am I going to do?" She began to cry all over again.

"You can come and stay with me in the holidays," said Lily.

"Yeah, we'll figure something out," Olivia offered her home up as well.

"They can't chuck you out. You're the only thing that keeps me sane in that place. It won't be the same without you," Sirius added.

"I'm getting burnt off the tapestry and everything. Of course, Bella's loving it." Annie was finding it hard to keep the tears out of her eyes.

"That's harsh. What was it that finally pushed them over the edge? You've been hanging on by a thread for years." Sirius asked.

"Bella or Narcissa told mum I went to the ball with Remus and she said that she would have no daughter of hers going out with a filthy blood traitor," Annie answered between sobs, turning to cry on Remus' shoulder.

"Come on, let's go get you cleaned up," he said softly to her. The others took that as a hint to go back to Defence against the dark arts.


	11. Chapter 11: The Art of Seduction

"Okay, so the plan got delayed; it's not the end of the world," said Olivia.

"You're right. We'll just put it on standby until tomorrow. That's when we'll make our move. Anyway, have you been remembering to act extra-hot around James?" asked Sirius.

"Yes. I've been batting my eyelashes, twirling my hair, the whole nine yards," Olivia assured him. "Oh, and I've been doing round with half my shirt buttons undone all day, but I suppose you knew that already."

James was talking to Lily at breakfast the next morning as there was no-one around. They had both woken up early.

"Did you notice? Olivia's being a bit odd with me lately."

"What d'you mean?"

"She's just being very friendly and a bit close for comfort. Plus I don't know for exactly whose benefit it was but the entire world had a front row view of her red, lacy bra all day yesterday."

"I see. So you couldn't give a rat's arse if my underwear was bloody multicoloured, but you make sure to inspect Olivia's." Lily turned on her chair so she was not facing James.

"Come on, that's not fair. You're not exactly giving it away. I mean, you won't even let me see your underwear and Liv isn't exactly subtle. Plus you can't be angry just because of that unless… You're jealous, aren't you Evans?"

This was the arrogant prepubescent boy Lily remembered as James Potter. She had been wondering what had happened to him.

"No. No," she insisted defensively. "I'm not. But why would Olivia be coming on to you?"

"My chiselled abs?"

"No," said Lily, dismissing the cocky remark.

"My school-boy good looks?" James suggested.

Lily opened her mouth in shock as it hit her. "They must know we're together. They're messing with our minds. Why else would Olivia be interested in you?"

"Hey," said James dejectedly.

"But they don't know we know they know," Lily said cunningly.

"Huh," James.

"So we'll go along with it 'till Olivia admits she doesn't want to sleep with you and it was all just a plan to make us confess," explained Lily. "And you can bet Sirius had something to do with this too."

Annie was still not yet ready to face lessons. Remus came down the stairs from the boys' dormitory. "She's still pretty upset about the whole thing. She just wants to rest today; I put her down on my bed."

"Score Moony," Sirius said.

"Everyone turned to stare at him as if to say, "Just… don't."

They all went down into the dungeons, headed towards potions. They were greeted by a smiling man with greying hair in an emerald coloured suit.

"Morning, Professor Slughorn," they chimed on their way in.

"Good morning students. I trust that you are all well. Today we shall be brewing Leonis, the elixir of courage. Though I suppose the Gryffindors won't be needing it…"

James noticed Olivia giving him funny looks all morning. She kept walking over to ask him for ingredients when he could see perfectly well that she had plenty of her own. She finally managed to corner him after transfiguration.

James was just packing away and everyone else had gone on except for Olivia. She approached him and stood next to him, leaning over him slightly. James turned around to find Olivia's face right up in his own. She was a tall girl so her eyeline wasn't far below his own. She was so close that he could see the copious amount of mascara clinging to her eyelashes. Her foundation alone must have been over an inch thick.

"James," she said softly and seductively. "I've got something I need to get off my chest. Meet me in the abandoned charms classroom on the 3rd floor at 9 tomorrow. It should be," she tossed her hair, "interesting." She kissed two of her fingers and planted them on James' lips before turning, leaving her hair to bob along in her wake.

James would have liked to object there and then to Lily's plan. However, he hated keeping this a secret and was willing to sacrifice everything to be with Lily, even his dignity.

"This is never going to work," Olivia complained. "Sirius, I was coming on to him, like properly coming on to him. I mean my tits were in his face for Pete's sake and he wasn't even batting an eyelid. I think you're wrong. Maybe him and Lily aren't going out after all."

"Unless," said Remus.

"Unless they know we know," Sirius finished.

Peter let out a squeal of excitement. "Does that mean Olivia's going to have to pursue her arrangement with James tomorrow?"

"Yes, Wormtail," said Remus, "I think it does."


	12. Chapter 12: Confessions

This is a scene which may be familiar to a few friends fans out there. hope I'm not infringing copyright. Okay… some of dialogue belongs to Warner bros. Some characters are J.K. Rowling's although I think she sold them to Warner bros. Storyline and Olivia are 100 mine though!

Chapter 12

As promised, James was waiting in the deserted charms classroom at 10 to 9 the following evening. Lily was making some last minute adjustments to his appearance. She pulled out the collar on his shirt. "Ruffle up your hair," she ordered. "You know, that sexy thing you make it do where it sticks up at the back."

James grinned to himself. "So she did notice all those times," he thought.

Outside the door, in the corridor, a similar scene was taking place. Annie handed Olivia mascara. "You just a bit more on your top eyelash."

"And flick that bit of hair out of your eyes," suggested Remus.

"Okay, so I'm all ready. You guys wait out her for my signal," said Olivia, going to turn the doorknob.

"Wait," said Sirius. He stepped up to her and with one swift movement of his hands, he undid her top three buttons.

"Hey," she said indignantly.

"What? It has to look convincing," Sirius defended himself.

"Yeah, yeah," said Olivia, unconvinced. "Well, wish me luck." With that she stepped into the room.

"Hello James," she greeted a now alone James. (Lily had hidden in the closet.)

"Uh- hi," said James looking thoroughly uncomfortable.

"I wanted to meet you here, away from prying eyes to tell you that I find you very attractive. Whenever I'm near you it's like there's a magnet in you, drawing me towards you," said Olivia heatedly.

"I didn't put it there," he said earnestly.

"It was a metaphor dear."

"Oh."

"Whenever I'm with you I just want to be touching you…kissing you…" Her voice was full of forced passion and her lips were now barely an inch from his.

"I can't," he backed away quickly. "I'm sorry Lily, I can't."

Inside the closet Lily smacked her forehead.

"And why not?" asked Olivia smugly, now back to her usual self.

"Because I love her," said James, pointing at the closet. "_I_ love_ her._"

Olivia looked puzzled for a moment. Then Lily stepped out of the closet. "I love you too James." She walked over to him, grabbed his collar, pulled him towards her and kissed him.

At that moment Annie, Remus Sirius and Peter, who had all had their ears pressed to the door, burst in.

"We knew you were fooling around but we didn't know you were in love," said Annie.

Lily smiled. "Yeah, but we haven't told anyone else yet so we'd appreciate it if you could just keep it between us lot." She looked at Sirius. "That means you."

"Do you really think that little of me?" Sirius asked with a twinkle in his eye but Lily just continued to glower at him.

Lily could be very intimidating when she wanted to be so, naturally, by morning the entire school knew. But Lily had lost the will to scold. Secretly, she was quite happy that all the secrecy was finally over. Only now, Olivia and Annie wanted to know everything. Absolutely everything.

"How did this happen?" asked Olivia.

"Yeah a couple of months ago you wouldn't even speak to him," commented Annie.

"I know. I didn't plan it." Lily began to explain. "We had that kiss in the Hall on Halloween and I said we couldn't carry on, it had to be a one off. But you know James. He's persistent. We had our first "date" the next night."

"And you two are getting on alright? No clash of personalities?" asked Annie.

"Yeah," said Lily. He's actually really sweet, and funny, and have you seen his eyes? "

Annie and Olivia rolled their eyes.

"I still can't believe you did it James," said Remus.

"Yeah, I guess persistence really paid off, eh Prongs?" said Sirius.

"Yeah," James was still in a kind of daze of happiness. For the first time in his life he was in a real, serious relationship with a girl he actually cared about. He couldn't quite stop himself from thinking ahead, about the future.

In his head a beautiful web of the rest of his life was spinning itself, and the sunlight glistening on every golden thread was Lily. He imagined life after Hogwarts. He had always planned on getting a flat with Sirius and going on bar crawls with a different girl for each different night, until maybe one day in his thirties he would have enough in common with one to think about settling down. But now everything was different.

He could live with Lily straight out of Hogwarts. He could even marry her fairly soon. He pictured a thousand ways to propose; the ring; how beautiful Lily would look in a wedding dress and of course the wedding night, but would Lily even want to wait or would knowing he loved her be enough? He didn't know and part of him didn't care. He would wait forever if it meant he could be with her.

And he pictured them getting a house, somewhere in the suburbs, maybe one day having kids. Lily would be a wonderful mother. He could teach them to ride a broom, tuck them into bed…

James was awoken from his thoughts by a rap at the door.

"Come in," Sirius yelled.

The top of a head of red hair poked round the doorway.

"Hi," said Lily. "I just wanted to check, James are we on for patrolling tonight?" 

It was the full moon tonight. Peter, Sirius and Remus all glared at him and for the first time he was torn. It was a choice between his best friends and her. But he knew what he had to do.

"Um, I can't," he said. "I've got a load of work to do." It was a cheap line.

Her face fell a little.

"Can I talk to you outside," he indicated the door.

She nodded. Once they were outside in the corridor he began to apologise. "I'm sorry. But I'll make it up to you tomorrow night if you want," he said, lifting her chin so her eyes met his. "I'll meet you in the common room at 8 and I promise you we'll find something fun to do. There are a couple of things I want to show you."

She smiled. "Okay." She kissed him sweetly on the lips and was gone in a flourish. James just stood there for a moment after she left. Kisses like that still left him shell-shocked.


	13. Chapter 13: Crying Yourself To Sleep

Chapter 13

James felt bad about lying to Lily all afternoon. In fact he was finding it hard to get excited about the full moon at all. He still couldn't work out if he'd made the right decision. Although he loved being a stag: being free, there was nothing he wanted more than to be with Lily, kissing her, touching her.

Come nightfall, however he was doing the furthest thing from work imaginable. He, Sirius and Peter all squeezed under his invisibility cloak as they began the trek through the castle and to the grounds to meet Remus who was already waiting in the Shrieking Shack.

Lily had tired of patrolling very quickly. It was no fun without James, like a cake someone had forgotten to add sugar to. She had taken to sitting in the girls dormitory, sitting by the slightly frosted window. She looked out the window towards the pond where the glazed surface was disturbed every few minutes by taps from the giant squid.

Suddenly, out in the darkness a few figures appeared, as if from nowhere. Upon closer inspection she could make out the faces of Sirius and Peter. As the third boy tuned around she let out a little a gasp. James face looked up at the castle so she could have sworn he looked her in the eye for a moment.

"Are you okay, Lil?" asked Olivia, sitting up in bed.

"Yeah," Lily tried to say but no sound escaped. "You go back to sleep."

She looked down at the spot where Peter, Sirius and James had been stood but in their place was a deer, a dog and what she could only guess was a mouse.

"Animagus," she whispered to herself. "Their nicknames."

She attempted to track their course across the grounds but they disappeared around the Whomping Willow. They reappeared a few moments later accompanied by a large wolf.

"Remus," she thought.

She could not help but keep her eyes on the scene below. She drifted off for a few hours after midnight and was awoken by the first rays of sunlight beaming in through the window. She immediately peered out the window just in time to see the four animals coming out of the forest and transform on the spot. Upon seeing James' face she almost cried. She could not believe it had been just over 24 hours since she had first told him she loved him.

Annie awoke behind her and Lily turned to face her.

"Are you alright Lily?" she asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Have you been there all night? You look like you've been crying." She walked over to Lily and put her arm around her. "What's wrong?"

Annie's arms were so warm and comforting that Lily was tempted to open up but she knew that she had to talk to James first. And there was the fact that she didn't know how Lily would take the news that her boyfriend was gallivanting around the Forbidden Forest in the small hours of the morning in the form of a wolf.

Lily was eventually dragged down to breakfast by Annie and Olivia. Although she sat opposite James, she refused to meet his eyes, once throughout the meal. She avoided the gazes of all the boys but the thought of looking James in the eyes was what scared her most. She was afraid that if she looked into them the truth would flow from her mouth like a river to the sea.

Her work suffered all day due to the inner struggle being battled out in her mind and all her teachers noticed that she did not seem quite herself. When her ancient runes teacher called her on the fact that her work that day was not up to par she met them with a glower to rival Professor McGonagall's.

She managed to avoid James all day but decided to talk to him at the time she had arranged to meet him the previous day. The previous day… the words made a knot in her stomach and twisted it harder with each thought of them.

So at 8 O'clock Lily was sitting in the common room waiting for him. There was a nudge at the portrait hole and it swung open. James stepped through the hole and gazed around the common room. The room was harrowingly empty with the exception of one chair with it's back to him. It was a dark green chintz and had red curls billowing down the back of it like a waterfall of fire.

"Okay, I have the most amazing thing to show you. Ready, Lily?" There was silence. "Lily?" he said softly as he walked towards the armchair. As he approached he reached one hand out to touch her hair. Suddenly she tugged herself out of his reach and turned around. Tears were framing her usually pale but now flustered face. Her hair was slightly more manic than usual and she looked as though she had been crying for hours.

"What's wrong?" he asked calmly, resting one hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me," she said suddenly, pulling away.

"Lily, what's wrong?" James repeated. "Who's done this to you?"

"You, James, you," she replied, becoming hysterical. "You betrayed me. Did you really think you couldn't trust me? Did you truly believe that? Do you know how hard it's been keeping this a secret from everyone – from Annie? But I could have done it because I love you so damn much – or at least, I did. How could you let Remus keep this a secret from Annie; she doesn't deserve that. She doesn't deserve any of this. She's falling in love with him, James."

James' face fell. "No," he whispered.

Lily nodded sombrely and more tears journeyed down her face. "Why couldn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't mine to tell. It's Remus' choice who he wants to tell that he's a-"

"What? So he just came up to you one day and said, "I'm an animagus. Care to join me"?"

James' face dropped even further as he realised what he was going to have to explain. "Remus isn't an animagus."

"And now you lie to me. Tell me, James, where does this end?"

"I'm not lying. He's not an animagus; he's a werewolf."

And then Lily did the most unexpected thing she could do: she laughed. "What? No he isn't don't be-" And then she began to cry again.

"Lily, listen," James tried to get her to look in his eyes. "It isn't his fault. He was bitten as a kid. We only found out in third year and spent the next couple of years trying to become animagus. See, we can't keep him company as people but as animals we can still be around him without being in danger."

Lily's anger seemed to have welled up again. "But it is dangerous. You are running round with a werewolf once a month. And Annie! He hasn't told her yet. I can't keep lying to her on his behalf. You can tell him that if he doesn't tell her by this time tomorrow, I will." She began to go upstairs but turned around. "Oh and James, in case you didn't notice, we're over. God, I can't believe I was so stupid to fall for you."


	14. Chapter 14: A Change Of Heart

Chapter 14

Just like that all of James' hopes and dreams slipped away. For a few moments after she left the room, he couldn't physically bring himself to move. It was like her words had frozen him to the spot. He kept going back in his head to the night before. He would do something different: say something sooner. If he could only make it right between them again.

And then a thought struck him. Perhaps, if he could talk to Remus and persuade him to tell Annie, Lily would forgive him – or at least resent him less. But to be honest, he didn't blame her for being angry. He knew how much she had hurt him but it couldn't be half as betrayed and lost as she was feeling.

He couldn't stand the thought of her feeling like that, not speaking to him. So he rushed out of the common room and up the spiral staircase to the boys' dormitory in search of Remus.

"Remus!" he yelled as he bounded up the stairs. "Remus!"

Remus' face poked round the doorway of the 7th years boys' dormitory. "God, James, stop yelling. I'm only here."

"Sorry, I just really needed to find you." James panted. "It's Lily, she knows. About everything. She broke up with me and threatened to tell Annie, but I'd try to get there first if I was you; I know she'd rather hear about it from you than second hand."

Remus' eyes had widened and he furrowed his forehead as he began to think. "What? How did this happen?"

"I don't know. She must have seen us last night, but when she confronted me I had to come clean. What choice did I have? I love her Remus," James apologised.

"I just… I don't believe it. So, you and Lily are over? My God, how's Annie going to take all this. All Lily had to take in was that you're an animagus. Annie has to deal with the fact that I'm a… a… She deserves someone more than me."

"That's not true. She loves you and she will find a way to cope. Lily didn't break up with me because I'm a stag one night a month. She ended it because I lied to her, because I didn't trust her," James said consolingly. "Whatever you do, don't just end it with her and not explain because she has a right to know. That will hurt her more than anything. And if you can't confide in her, who will you ever be a able to confide in?"

He looked at Remus whose eyes were fixed on the floor. "One good thing ended tonight, don't let it be two."

Remus knew what he had to do. With what felt like the weight of the world on his shoulders, Remus made his way to the bottom of the stairs up to the girls' dormitory. Lily was just coming down them. "Is Annie up there?" he asked her.

She glanced at him with a look of distaste, the kind she used to give James before Halloween. "Yes," she replied eventually.

"Annie," he called up the stairs, "Annie." He waited for a reply but he was just greeted with her petite figure bounding down the stairs to meet him. She put her hands on his shoulders and tip-toed up to kiss him.

"Hi," she said perkily. "What do you want all of a sudden?"

"Can we talk?" he asked, his face remaining quite serious. He couldn't bear the thought of getting lost in the moment if that was to be the last time her soft lips would ever touch his.

"Sure," she nodded, still seeming cheery but feeling slightly more uneasy.

"Alone," he specified looking at Lily who was opening her book in the otherwise deserted common room.

She scowled at him once more before retreating back up the stairs.

"Is anything wrong?" asked Annie softly.

"No, no," Remus reassured her. There wasn't anything wrong with wanting to spend a little more time with her, was there?

"Good," she kissed him roughly. "Because there's something I've been wanting to say for a while now." She ran her hand over his rugged chin. "I love you," she stroked her fingers through his hair.

Great, she just had to make this harder for him, didn't she? He knew that it was now or never. If he stayed with her a moment longer, he could never bring himself to leave. He had to tell her.

As he sat there and told her the truth, giving her the full explanation, leaving out no detail. She did not cry. She barely even blinked. She merely watched him and tried to take in everything he was saying. He finished and looked at her, trying to gage her reaction. Finally, she opened her mouth, "I don't… how, how could you even think that would bother me. You are so stupid Remus," she said kissing him affectionately. "You had me worried for a moment."

He looked into her eyes and saw the tears streaming down her face. But she was smiling, laughing even. " You, you're okay with this? I mean, you don't mind?" he asked.

"Didn't you hear anything I just said? I _love _you," she said emphatically. "And no werewolf or mermaid or centaur could ever make me stop."

"It's just with Lily and James splitting up and everything, I assumed mine was the next head on the chopping block, but-" Remus began to babble but Annie cut him off.

"What? Lily split up with James? Over the animagi thing?" asked Annie indignantly. She bolted up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Remus inquired.

"To stop my best friend from making the biggest mistake of her life," came her reply.

A shudder swept through the room as the heavy oaken door crashed open. Lily peered over the top of her book to look at Annie. She took one look her friend's eyes were filled with anger and sorrow.

"So Remus told you, huh?" asked Lily in a comforting, motherly way.

"Yeah. Yeah, he did. And he told me about you and James too and I have to comment Lily, you are stupid."

"What?" said Lily indignantly. "He lied to me. He runs around with a werewolf once a month. Do you know how dangerous that is? Werewolves aren't cuddly like animagi. They're vicious killers, Annie."

"God, I never realised you were such a bigot," said Annie.

"I'm a bigot?" repeated Annie in disbelief. "Hardly."

"Does he make you happy? James, does he make you happy?" Annie asked.

Lily frowned. "He's annoying; He's immature; He's clingy and needy; He knows all the spots where I'm ticklish and uses it to his advantage," she paused. "But I love him. I love his laugh, his smile. I love the way he tries. But most of all I love the way he makes me feel. When I'm with him I'm not Lily Evans, head girl, top of the class in everything and a complete bore. I'm just Lily, no titles, no pretences. That's how he sees me. I'm beautiful in his eyes. Just the way I am."

"And yet you're willing to give up everything you just said and all because he's a stag once a month? You have to admit that's prejudiced. If I can live with the man I love being a werewolf, then surely you can live with your boyfriend being an animagus."

With that Annie turned and swept out of the room, leaving Lily to stew in her own thoughts.

Maybe Annie was right. Maybe she had been a little quick to pass judgement on James. By the time she went to bed she had made up her mind. She would talk to James in the morning and sort this whole thing out.


	15. Chapter 15: Picking Up Where We Left Off

Chapter 15

It was as bad as Lily had imagined it would be the next morning. The school was alive with feverish whispers. She didn't see James at all at breakfast, so for the first time in her life she skipped charms to scour the castle for him. However she was not convinced of her ability to find him. He probably knew the castle as well as any one of the founders.

After turning over stones for a couple of hours, she found him sitting alone in one of the shifting closets on the third floor.

"James," she approached him softly. "James can I talk to you?" 

He looked up at her, his face streaked with tears.

"You've been crying?" Lily asked as she looked at his tearstained face and she could barely envisage the cocky, tough-faced Quidditch captain the rest of the world saw him as.

"Listen, if you've come to hurl some more abuse my way, you've got the wrong guy. I'm not yours to toy with anymore, you know." James turned to her.

"I know. I want to apologise. What I said yesterday, it wasn't fair. It's just I've never felt this way before, James. It scares me sometimes how much I care about you. I couldn't bear to see you get hurt. But if you're willing, I'd really like to give us another go."

"No more messing about?" asked James, his face brightening up slightly.

"No more messing about, or trying to change you, or making you feel inferior," she assured him.

"Loving you's the hardest thing I've ever done," James said.

"Not anymore," she sat down next to him and rested her head on his chest, gliding her finger in circles over his cheekbone.

The days grew shorter and the castle seemed to be shaking with anticipation for going home for Christmas. The marauders, Lily, Annie and Olivia were gathered in a circle in the common room with mugs of steaming cocoa. Lily was perched on James' knee, running her fingers through his hair while Annie was sitting by Remus' feet, flicking through the paper.

"Any news on Voldemort?" inquired Lily.

"No, nothing today, but I think he's getting stronger. People are more scared than ever," Annie replied.

"What do you mean?" questioned Peter.

"People don't even want to say his name anymore. Haven't you noticed. People are referring to him as you-know-who. It's like they're to scared to even say his name," Olivia commented.

"On a cheerier note," Sirius began to steer the conversation in a happier direction. "What are everybody's Christmas plans?"

Murmurs of the word "family" could be heard at different levels of reluctance. Lily was not looking forward to spending two weeks in a house with Petunia and her idiot of a fiancé, Vernon. Especially as she wasn't going to be able to use magic.

"Can I stay with you Lily?" asked Annie. Lily had forgotten that Annie was now, effectively, homeless.

"Of course you can," she answered.

"Well don't make yourselves to busy. You can all count yourselves as cordially invited to the Potters' annual new year's party," James said.

"Alright," said Olivia.

"Are you going?" Annie asked Remus.

"Have done every year since we were twelve," he replied.

Annie nodded her response to James.

Lily however, was a little less sure. Going to James' house meant meeting James' parents and she wasn't sure if she was ready for that yet. On the other hand, it would give her an opportunity to see him in the upcoming weeks.

"Lily?" James asked.

"Of course," she said and kissed him on the cheek.

With Lily and James back to normality, patrolling also relapsed into being heated make-out sessions in abandoned classrooms. Having just kicked out some 5th years who had, by the looks of it, been attempting to brew Felix Felices.

"Not bad for a Wednesday, huh?" said James. "50 docked house-points in one night: pretty impressive."

"And I suppose the fact that they were all from Slytherin makes absolutely no difference?" Lily asked suspiciously.

"Well," said a grinning James, "Maybe."

Lily let out a laugh as James put an arm around her waist and drew her body closer to his so that her chest was pressed up against his. The heat between them was such that they couldn't help their gazes locking and their lips meeting.

Any worries James may have had about their first kiss after their parting being awkward were lost in that glorious moment when their breath mingled and her vanilla scent became a part of him. He had missed every aspect of her, from the taste of her lips to the way she messed up his hair whenever she ran her fingers through it. Then he reminded himself that this was ridiculous. They had only been broken up for a day. Caught up in the moment, he began to move his hands down from her waist—

"I can't stop thinking about your parents," stated Lily bluntly.

"I've got to give you credit," laughed James. "I've never heard that one before."

"No," said Lily seriously, not latching on to his sarcasm. "I don't mean like that. I'm just wondering if I'm ready to meet you your parents."

James stroked a finger through her hair and kissed her gently on the forehead. "Of course you are," he reassured her.

"Really?" she asked him earnestly.

"They're gonna love you," he said. "I mean, how could anybody not?" 

She shuffled along the desk to be closer to him and allowed herself to be devoured by his embrace


	16. Chapter 16: Decking The Halls

Chapter 16

By the time the end of term came and the train was pulling in to platform 9¾ Lily was far to excited about going home to be plagued with worries of the upcoming weeks. The Hogwarts Express reached a standstill and the doors were opened on to a platform of mothers welcoming their children home for the holidays. Lily's eyes eagerly sought out her parents.

Her mother bounded out from amongst the crowd and threw her arms around her daughter. "Lily!" she exclaimed. "It is so good to see you. You've grown, haven't you. And you've changed your hair?"

Lily shook her head.

"Well something's different about you anyhow." As Lily's mother continued to fuss over her, James appeared behind Lily baring her trunk and a cage holding Broccoli, her tabby cat. "And who is this young fellow?" she asked, indicating James.

Lily blushed slightly. "Oh, this is James, mum, James Potter."

James held out his hand, inviting Mrs Evans to shake it. "It's so nice to meet you Mrs Evans."

"Rose dear, call me Rose. Lily, you didn't mention James in any of your letters this term-"

Their conversation was interrupted as a crash was heard from the side of the platform. Annie, carrying so many bags and books had slipped rather than stepped off the train.

"Isn't that-"

"Annie." Lily finished her mother's sentence.

"Is Andromeda going to be alright. It looks like she's taken a nasty fall?" Rose Evans asked concernedly.

"She'll be fine," replied Lily, noticing Remus crouching by her side, tending to her grazed knee. "Oh, mum, I mentioned in my last letter that Annie was going to need somewhere to stay for the holidays. I hope it's okay that I kind of invited her to ours for Christmas."

"Of course, sweetheart. Just go and tell her she needs to get a move on, we're having dinner with the Dursleys tonight and I don't want the roast to spoil in the oven. It was lovely to meet you James."

Waving goodbye to Remus and James from the car, they began the journey home from Kings Cross.

"I noticed Petunia didn't come to pick me up," said Lily from the backseat.

"Well, with the wedding only a few months away, she really does have her hands full," Rose replied

"Yeah, and that's just the latest excuse," Lily said begrudgingly.

"Come on Lily, you've hardly been the perfect sister of late, have you?" her mother questioned. "I hardly heard you support your sister's engagement."

"That's because she's marrying a-"

"I will not hear another word against Vernon Dursley. He is a perfectly nice man and you could do well to show a little support," said Rose sternly. "Besides, I will not have you and your sister fighting for the next three weeks."

"Fine," Lily huffed.

Upon her arrival at home Lily was greeted with open arms by her smiling father. She walked into the kitchen and silently introduced Annie and Petunia, who was on the phone, speaking enthusiastically about centrepieces. A portly Vernon was sitting across the table from his fiancée, noting down her every word.

Lily showed Annie upstairs to her room and set up a mattress for her friend on the floor.

"Sorry, that's all we've got" she apologised, looking at the moth eaten mattress. " I would conjure something up but… no magic. We're under strict house rules. He can't suspect a thing. Oh, but there are some great spells I'm just itching to try out on him."

"Something about your sister really works you up, huh?" asked Annie.

Lily nodded. "I have the feeling this is going to be a very long holiday.

Back at the Potter house, Sally Potter had her hands full. Four hungry boys under one roof, and marauders none the less. However, despite the amount of trouble it caused, she liked the house being so full of life. It just seemed so empty when it was just her and her husband.

"Dinner's ready," she called up to the boys who at the mention of food, bounded down the stairs with Sirius in the lead.

The young Sirius Black had been like a son to her now for quite some years. In fact he visited the Potter house far more frequently than his own. Their families had not been at peace with each other for quite a number of years, but Sally believed their was solace to be found in her son's friendship with the black sheep of their family.

The conversation between the marauders which had been taking place upstairs had travelled down with them.

"So what are you getting Annie for Christmas?" James asked Remus. "Because I'm really stuck on what to get Lily."

"I was going to get her a bracelet," Remus replied.

"Jewellery. Now that's not a bad idea. Girls like jewellery, don't they?" James looked to his friends for advice. Then an idea struck him and suddenly he knew exactly what to get her.

Christmas day dawned quickly on the Evans household. The snow was falling thick and fast outside the window much to Annie's delight. Lily awoke to see her friend jumping up and down with excitement with the prospect of presents.

Picking up a heavily wrapped parcel from under her bed, she threw it over to Annie. "Merry Christmas," she said to her.

Annie quickly tore off the paper to reveal a red sweater. "Thanks," she said gratefully, passing Lily her own gift, a book on famous aurors through time.

Lily was admiring the leather bound book when her owl, Achilles dropped a present on the foot of her bed. She picked up the parcel to examine it further.

"Who's it from," Annie asked.

Lily looked at the note attached, "To Lily, Love James." "James. Damn it. I was going to give him his on New Years."

"I'm sure he won't mind," reassured Annie. "Well, aren't you going to open it?"

Lily carefully removed the gift wrap to expose a red, velveteen jewellery box. Opening it tentatively she found a golden locket with a flower engraved on the front which, upon closer examination she could tell was a lily. She pulled open the locket. Inside were a simple picture. Of a strawberry. She laughed to herself.

"What? What is it?" asked Annie curiously.

Lily displayed the necklace to her friend but Annie didn't quite understand the contents. Lily never had told anyone about the events of that night. They just seemed too special. Besides, the feeling it gave her was literally indescribable.

Owls continued to arrive all morning, much to Petunia's disgruntlement. Vernon, however just seemed baffled as to why these usually nocturnal creatures were roaming the skies in broad daylight.

Towards the end of the day, Olivia arrived bearing gifts and a wide grin. (Christmas always had been her favourite time of year.) She stayed for a couple of hours, catching up with her friends and snacking on leftovers from Christmas lunch. As the night drew on, however, she bid goodnight to Annie and Lily and returned home, promising to see them on New Years Eve.


	17. Chapter 17: Tis The Season To Be Jolly

Chapter 17

Lily arrived at the Potters' driveway with a wide grin splitting her face. She hadn't seen James in what felt like an eternity and she wanted to thank him for the thoughtful present and give him a gift of her own. Willing the small, wrapped box in her hand to stop rattling, she and Annie walked up to the house.

"Whoah," sighed Annie in amazement looking up at the huge manor house towering over them. "I mean I knew James' parents were rich but, wow."

Lily herself couldn't hide her awe. All of a sudden it became apparent to her why James had always thought of himself as the centre of the universe up until recently. He must have had a string of house-elves under his direct command from the age of four. Suddenly the prospect of meeting Mr and Mrs Potter became all the more daunting.

Annie rang the doorbell and the door was immediately opened by the friendly, smiling face of a petite, greying middle-aged woman, festively dressed in a party-hat. In one hand she was holding a tray of mince pies.

"Hello," said the woman. "You two must be James' friends. I'll just call him. He's in the kitchen."

James came running to the hallway at the sound of his mother's voice accompanied by a man Lily could only assume was his father. He was slightly taller than James, with slightly lighter hair, but the same gangliness and round glasses.

"Hi Lily," James greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. "Annie."

Annie took this as indication to go and meet the rest of the marauders in the kitchen.

"Lils this is my father, Harold,"

"Call me Harry, dear," Mr Potter corrected him.

"And this is my mother, Sally."

"It's so nice to finally meet you, Lily. We've heard so much about you," Sally said warmly.

"All good I hope," laughed Lily.

"Oh yes," nodded Harry. "James won't hear a word against you."

At this James blushed.

"Oh really?" asked Lily, intrigued.

"Okay, Lily. I think you've seen enough of my parents," James said, hurrying Lily out of the hallway, embarrassed. "Let's go meet the others."

In the kitchen she was greeted by the laughing Gryffindor seventh years. James quickly circuited the room with her introducing her to any unfamiliar faces.

"Hi guys," Lily said to her friends who were gathered around the kitchen table. She scanned the room. "Where's Liv?" she asked, directing her question at Sirius.

Peter, however answered it with a shrug.

Suddenly Olivia burst into the room holding so many presents that it was impossible to make out her face. "I come bearing gifts!"

Everyone stared at her.

"Well is someone going to help me, then? These are bloody heavy!"

Sirius jumped up immediately to take off the top one.

She glowered at him. "I don't need your help, thanks."

He sat down huffily as the others got up to help.

Olivia began passing out the gifts. "I already gave one to you two," she indicated Annie and Lily. "This one's for Remus," she said passing him a book shaped present. "James," she handed him a box of chocolate cauldrons with a bow tied around them.

Sirius looked at her eagerly.

She attempted to give him an icy stare but eventually was gave in. Hers was a Christmas spirit that could not be broken. She gave him a gingerbread man.

"Happy?" she asked, smiling slightly. Lily knew that this was just an effect of the season (and perhaps butterbeer.) She would be back to normal by January 2nd. That is if she didn't have too much of a hangover.

Lily leaned over to James. "On the subject of presents," she whispered in his ear. "I have a little something to give you. Can we go somewhere private?"

"Yeah, I'll take you up to my bedroom he said quietly to her. "Excuse us," he announced to the table. "We'll be back in a minute."

He lead her upstairs by the hand and along a corridor into his room. He went to sit down on the bed. Lily however just stood by the doorway. She took a moment to take in her surroundings. The broomstick mounted on the wall, the dozens of Quidditch awards, the photos of the marauders in which they were all laughing and a more recent one of James and herself in a gilded frame by his bedside.

"Come on," he said. "Sit down."

She went to sit down on the bed. Only then did she realise fully what situation she was in. She was in James Potter's bedroom. _James Potter's bedroom_. A thousand girls would kill to be in her position.

"So what have you got for me?" he asked coyly.

She handed him the rattling box. "I hope you like it," she said nervously.

The second he had prised open the box a golden blur streaked out of it. With amazing reflexes, James caught the tiny, fluttering ball. "Thanks, Lils," he said. "This'll be great for practise."

"Look at it closer," she suggested.

He held it up to his round glasses. Upon closer inspection he found, engraved into the leather, the initials, "J.P."

"I had that done specially in Diagon Alley," she told him. "I just wanted to give you something as sweet and thoughtful and personal as you gave me."

He hugged her, still clutching the golden snitch in his hand. She, however decided to kiss him instead. Taken aback slightly, he was pushed backwards until they were both lying on the bed, engulfing each other in their kiss.

It was not until his hands began to roam that she even realised that she was lying on top of him.

"Sorry," she said, sitting up.

"No," James said, adjusting his glasses. "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable. I know you're not ready for that yet."

She looked at him softly, with love in her eyes. "I want you to know that I trust you completely. More than I've ever trusted anyone else. But I'm still just… not quite there yet. You know that I love you, though, right?"

"Of course," James smiled. "I love you too."

"Anyway, shall we go and see what everyone else is up to then?" Lily asked, standing up.

And with that they headed back downstairs.


	18. Chapter 18: Mistletoe Antics

Chapter 18

Back downstairs the party was in full swing. Most of her classmates were still chatting around a table and music pounded through the room making the barrels of butterbeer and firewhisky vibrate.

Lily looked around the room at the dancing, laughing people, ready to join in when her gaze paused in the corner of the room on a couple who were engaged in what could only be described as a violent kiss.

As Lily approached the two she could make out Olivia holding a small branch of mistletoe over the head of a tall, handsome boy who Lily recognised as

"Sirius!" she exclaimed. She grabbed her friend and pulled her away out of Sirius' arms. "Are you serious, Liv?"

"That would be me," Sirius piped up.

"This is so, not the time, Sirius," she yelled at him.

James looked at her from across the room. He had sort of missed that fiery side of Lily since they had been going out. But it sure as hell was nice to watch her yell at someone else for a change.

"Really," Lily continued to her friend. "Are you honestly kissing Sirius?"

"Well, not anymore I'm not," she slurred, obviously under the influence of a little to much firewhisky.

Lily looked at the empty bottles by her feet. "Well, that explains a lot. Come on Liv. You're coming with me." She lead her stumbling friend over to the other side of the room to James.

"Is there a bed anywhere which I can put her down on?" she asked.

"Yeah," replied. "Second floor first on the left. I had a few beds made up there for you three in case you were deemed…" He chose his words carefully, "incapable to travel."

Lily heaved her friend upstairs with the aid of James and carried her into the bedroom, laying her down on a bed.

"Could you get us a paracetamol and some coffee?" she requested of James. "I have the feeling she's going to need them when she wakes up."

"Sure Lil," James nodded, walking out of the door. He stopped in his tracks. "What's paracetamol?"

From the window Lily could see a deep red streak on the horizon. The sun was slowly rising, streaming light on to Olivia's bed. Her eyelid flickered and opened. She was beginning to come to.

"Liv, Olivia?" Lily spoke softly. "Can you hear me."

Olivia groaned. "My head hurts. Screw that. My everything hurts."

"Here," Lily passed her friend the dark cup of coffee on the bedside table.

She took it enthusiastically.

"Can you remember any of last night?" Lily asked her gently.

"Vaguely." Olivia answered. "Bits of it are coming back to me. I remember arriving. I remember eating gingerbread. I remember having way too much to drink. I remember dancing on the table and then… no. I didn't. I can't have done…" Olivia clapped her hand to her mouth in realisation.

Lily nodded gravely.

"I kissed _him?_ I kissed _Sirius? _You let me kiss_ Sirius?_" Olivia asked in disbelief.

"I don't think _let _is the correct term," Lily verified. "More like dragged you kicking and screaming from his lips."

"No. No. This is too…" she trailed off, lost for words. "There is a _reason_ why I have avoided him all these years despite his manly good looks!"

"Mind divulging?" Lily invited her to tell more.

Olivia looked shiftily from side to side. "Um," she paused. "Well it's not really something I've ever told, well, anyone."

"You can tell me," Lily assured her, comfortingly resting her hand on her friend's knee.

"Okay, but this stays between you and me, okay?"

Lily nodded her head in acceptance of the terms and conditions.

"Well, it was in fourth year that I began seeing Sirius. This was before I embarked in my campaign of hate towards him. We had a sort of, accidental kiss and before I knew it, I was hurtled into a mile a minute relationship. He was fun, he was exciting, he made me feel special. That was until I found out about Kathy and Louise and Sara. But it was too late. I had already fallen for him.

"I felt so stupid and betrayed and angry, not just with him, with myself, for making myself so vulnerable. And now I've gone and done it again. I can't get that hurt again."

Lily was in a state of shock. "How did I not know about this?" she asked in disbelief.

"Remember that week in fourth year?" asked Olivia. "The one where I didn't come out of our dorm for a week and you kept commenting that I wasn't eating. Annie thought I was just ill. It wasn't an illness, it was heartache."

Lily embraced her friend. "I am so sorry that you had to go through that by yourself. Remember in future. You can tell me and Annie anything. We are always here for you."

"Where is Annie anyway?" asked Olivia curiously.

"Oh," Lily laughed, "She's in Remus' room."

Olivia's eyes widened.

"No, not like that. Get your mind out the gutter! They're just talking." Lily assured her. "As for Sirius. I hope he's gone out because he is in for a world of pain when I get a hold of him."

"Don't worry about it," said Olivia.

"I don't mind, honestly. It'll be fun," Lily said.

"No, seriously. I'd rather we just forget about it to be honest," Olivia told her.

"Are you sure?" Lily asked.

"Yeah," Olivia smiled. "I'll be fine. I can take care of myself."


	19. Chapter 19: No Pain, No Gain

Chapter 19

Despite what Olivia had said, Lily couldn't help but glower at Sirius over the breakfast table. There was an uncomfortable silence over the bacon and eggs and James was feeling the awkwardness more than anybody. After all, Lily had taken the most offence to the events of last night and heaven knows he didn't want another fight with her. However, Sirius was somewhat of a brother to him and he was starting to feel like a traitor.

Remus cleared his throat, attempting to clear the air. "Who's up for a game of Quidditch."

A weak smile graced James' face. "Could be a nice way to cut through the tension." He said what everyone was thinking.

"Of course we could use a knife," whispered Annie to Remus.

He laughed.

"I've got a few spare brooms in the shed," James offered. "Course, it'll be three vs. four."

"Why don't you and Liv go on one team, you're the best players," Remus suggested.

Sirius opened his mouth to retort but Lily shot him a warning glance.

"Why don't you take Lils too," he added. He lowered his voice and drew closer to James. "I don't think either of them would be too happy taking orders from Sirius right now."

The seven of them headed outside and James handed each of them brooms.

"Wow," said Olivia, admiring the Quidditch pitch. "Your house really does have everything, James."

The two teams separated and kicked off into the air. Some were having more difficulty than others. Peter was having trouble remaining upright while Annie was just about managing to recall what she had been taught in her flying lessons in the first year.

Remus was attempting to steady her as he had had sufficient practise on a broom with James and Sirius over the years. Lily was also struggling. She had no trouble with academic subjects, however she showed less aptitude with flying.

James flew over to her to guide her. He put a hand on her broom to steady it. "Don't jerk it so much," he advised her. "Let the broom do the work; just give it a little nudge in the right direction."

While Lily attempted to get the hang of the broomstick Sirius and Olivia were already in the air releasing the balls. The other five eventually caught up and the game commenced.

James and Remus chased off after the snitch Lily had bought James for Christmas leaving Lily, Peter and Annie to toss around the Quaffle. Meanwhile Olivia hit a perfectly aimed Bludger violently at Sirius' head to which he responded by aiming one at her.

This continued for a few minutes until Sirius aimed a Bludger a little too accurately at Olivia's broom and she went hurtling towards the ground.

The game halted as Lily and Annie darted towards the ground. However, due to their lack of speed, the boys beat them to it.

Sirius, Remus and James were huddled around Olivia with Peter lagging behind. Annie and Lily pushed them out of the way but Sirius was a little harder to move.

Lily turned to him. "Don't you think you've hurt her enough for one day?" she asked him.

"I didn't mean…" he stammered.

"Whatever Sirius, just move so I can straighten out her leg," Annie said.

The bone in Olivia's leg was jutting out at an awkward angle. Annie whipped her wand out of her jeans pocket and rested it on her friend's knee. "Reparo," she said quietly as Olivia's knee straightened out.

A few moments later Olivia came to for the second time in hours. This time however she got straight up, however, barely registering her recovering knee. She walked straight past Lily and Annie to Sirius and she hit him on the nose. Hard.

"Sirius – Black – you – git –" Olivia punctuated each of her words with a punch.

James eventually managed to pull Olivia off of Sirius. "Okay, you two. You're in my house, well, my garden at least, so you're going to follow my rules and I will not have you two fighting all the time. It's pissing me off. It's pissing Lily off and I won't have it. So either you two find a way to get along or you'll both be seeing the door from the outside, yes you two Padfoot," he added off of the puppy dog look Sirius was giving him.

Lily looked at her boyfriend in admiration. He really could be mature when he wanted. She could barely connect him to the cocky, arrogant boy he was less than a year.

Olivia and Sirius nodded their heads to show they understood the conditions and Olivia limped back into the house to rest her leg.

The girls departed early the next morning when Olivia's leg was more up too disapparating. She had been afraid of splinching herself from her injured leg.

The remainder of the holiday went quickly for all of the Gryffindors and before they knew it they were in a whitewashed Hogsmeade making their way back up to the castle.

Olivia was beginning to milk her broken leg. She had been complaining about her knee since they got off of the train and Remus and Annie had become so sick of it that they begun taking turns in carrying her trunk as well as their own.

After much heaving and hoeing, eventually they all managed to drag themselves up to Gryffindor tower.

"Uh," sighed Olivia, flopping down on one of the red couches by the fire. "I need to go to sleep."

"You slept the whole way up here," laughed Lily.

"I could do with some sleep too," said Remus, letting down Olivia's trunk.

"Yeah," Peter nodded in agreement, heading up to the boys' dormitory. He was shortly followed by Sirius who had been uncharacteristically quiet on the train journey.

Annie kissed Remus goodnight as she and Olivia made their way upstairs.

"What about you?" asked James. "Aren't you going to bed?"

"No," answered Lily. "I'm going to stay up and get some studying done for Professor Vector."

"Nice to know some things never change," James laughed.

"How about you? Not sleepy?" Lily returned the question.

"No I am. I'm going to go and sleep in the head dormitories. Sirius'll be up for hours yet ranting about Olivia."

"Oh, so you've slept in the head dorms before?" Lily asked.

"Well… yeah." James answered. "Whenever I want some peace and quiet."

"Oh, yeah, course," said Lily uncomfortably.

"I mean, unless you want to come up there too?" he asked.

"No, I mean, I'd feel a bit weird with you in the next room. You'd be so near and I wouldn't be talking to you. It'd just be strange," she said.

"That's not what I meant," he told her.

"I know," she replied before heading up the girls' staircase.


	20. Chapter 20: You win some, You lose some

Chapter 20

January merged into February in a blitz of snow and death-eater attacks. Lily was noticing that Lord Voldemort – or you-know-who, as he had been so aptly rechristened – was spreading fear and chaos up and down the country.

Black owls from the ministry bearing only bad news were frequenting the Hogwarts Great Hall more and more often. She also noticed that the Slytherin table seemed to be receiving the fewest letters.

So, by the first week of February, tensions between the houses were running high. Bellatrix Black, amongst others, was enjoying the status being the daughter of a death-eater gave her amongst the Slytherins. She had taken to draping herself over Rudolphus Lestrange, another death-eater in the making.

Surrounded by the likes of Avery, Snape and MacNair, they had quite the miniature dark army. Even Narcissa who was two years the junior of either of her sisters was joining in on the action.

"So, Dromeda. How's homelessness working out for you?" the blonde girl sneered at her sister as she passed her in the corridor, backed up by comments and laughs from the junior death-eaters behind her.

"Well," said Annie biting back and previous remorse for the loss of her family. "It's a hell of a lot better than living with a bunch of mindless bigots who's only thoughts are to serve some pathetic master."

"Annie," said Remus, trying to save Annie from her own mouth.

"No, no," encouraged Bellatrix, stepping forward, wide eyed with fury. "Let's hear what else the little blood traitor dares to say against the Dark Lord."

Rage was engulfing Annie as her sister spat these words out at . She delved into her pocket but Bellatrix beat her to it, sending a stunner at her.

The red sparks hit her at the ankle, tripping her over and sending her crashing to the ground.

At this, Olivia darted in front of her friend. "Levicorpus!" she exclaimed.

Bellatrix opened her mouth to retaliate. "Sectumsemp–"

"Back off bitch!" yelled Sirius, aiming a bat-bogey hex at his cousin.

"Aw, little Sirius is coming out to play," sneered Bellatrix in that horrible mocking tone she had acquired.

"Good thing your boyfriend's here to save you, Lennon," remarked Rudolphus, releasing his girlfriend from the invisible grip of Olivia's hex.

At this Olivia's eyes blazed red. "He is not my boyfriend!" she screamed aiming her wand at Rudolphus. "Stupef–"

"Hem, hem."

The fighting groups spun around to see Professor McGonagall standing behind them, clearing her throat.

She approached the two groups and tutted. "Fighting in the corridors," she observed, "Highly unacceptable. Lennon, Black," she indicated towards Olivia and Sirius. "My office. Now. And as for you Slytherins, I shall be reporting you to Professor Slughorn and seeing that you are reprimanded appropriately."

She gestured for Olivia and Sirius to follow her as she turned and walked towards her office. She opened the door and invited the two of them to sit down.

"Well, this becoming quite the frequent little gathering, isn't it?" she said, sitting down opposite them. "How many times have you been in here now, Black?"

She turned to Sirius.

"Although it does make a nice change to see that you aren't fighting each other," she admitted. "Tonight you will be cleaning the trophy room–"

"From eight O'clock until it is spotless; Filch will be the judge of that; strictly no magic," Sirius finished for her. "I know the drill Professor."

"Yes but this time you will be doing it together. I am sick of you two getting into squabbles. You need to learn how to get along with the Slytherins," she paused, "And each other."

"But Professor–" retorted Olivia.

"Don't "But Professor" me. This is final. I expect to see you both in the trophy room at eight. Now run off to lessons. You wouldn't want to get into any more trouble now would you."

For the remainder of the afternoon, Olivia complained to anyone who would listen about the punishment McGonagall had set. Unfortunately, "anyone" ended up being Lily.

She managed to make a complete mess out of her engorgement charm, causing her teacup to erupt with boils as she had not been able to hear professor Flitwick's instruction over Olivia's whinging.

However, she had the good mind not to say anything, remembering what she had mad her friends put up with not so long ago. Her rants about James were known to last hours.

Sirius echoed Olivia's unenthusiastic approach to their detention. He was not thrilled at the possibility of re-enacting the scene at the Quidditch Pitch. Getting punched in the face hurt: even when Olivia was the one doing the punching.

When eight O'clock finally came, both were so neck deep in fury and – on Sirius' part – fear, that they barely noticed each other's presence.

Filch ushered them into the trophy room and locked the door behind them. "There used to be a time when you'd be locked in here for a good week. I keep telling Dumbledore he's to soft for his own good…" Filch grumbled on his way out.

"Well," Olivia said sharply, "You take that side," She pointed to the trophy case nearest the window. It's glass was gleaming in the moonlight and giving every silver trophy a pearly glow.

Grabbing sponges from the old tin bucket in the centre of the chamber their finger met briefly for a moment. Olivia let her gaze wander carelessly in Sirius' direction before pulling her hand away from his in such haste that the bucket tipped over.

"See what you made me do?" Olivia exclaimed.

"Me?" Sirius questioned. "What did I do?"

Olivia let out a grunt of annoyance and began scrubbing the floor where the water was spilt.


	21. Chapter 21: All's Fair In Love And Bets

Chapter 21

A good couple of hours of scrubbing and polishing had passed in silence. Not a word had passed either Olivia or Sirius' lips since they had begun work and the only sound be heard was the wind whistling in through the ajar window.

An unspoken sense of awkwardness was present in the room. Sirius and Olivia stood on opposite sides of the room navigating around each other's movements.

Having been distracted by the movements of the trees in the grounds, Olivia noticed that she had been polishing the same trophy for so long that the finish was beginning to wear.

She moved towards the back of the room to start cleaning a new case of trophies but Sirius moved simultaneously. His damp cloth bumped into hers as it touched the glass.

As his finger brushed against hers, this time there was no denying the electricity running between them. He extended his grip to her palm before gliding his finger down her bare arm and winding it around him.

A shiver ran down her spine at his touch. Gently he brought his other hand up to her face and cupped her chin, compelling it to meet his.

She took little convincing and in one swift moment her lips were on his. Softly, he ran a coarse hand through her hair in an attempt to pull her towards him. Wrapping herself tighter around him she let out an inaudible gasp at the back of her throat.

She was trying to wrap her mind around how good at kissing he was – she had been a little too drunk to remember the finer details of their previous encounter. The practical side of her brain put it down to practise; the more romantic side called it instinct.

His lips were toying with hers, his tongue moving rhythmically beneath his. For moments it was hard to tell were Sirius left off and Olivia began. They were immersing themselves further and further into a wild kiss of passions.

And they could have guessed that there were two others in the castle, shirking responsibilities for precisely the same reason.

Lily and James were huddled up in a classroom which they had just emptied of four duelling third years. Lily was resting in James' arms as he kissed her softly down her neck.

"How do you reckon Olivia and Sirius are doing?" asked Lily.

"Do we have to talk about them right now?" James questioned reluctantly.

"I'll make it worth your while," she said waving a note in front of him.

He stared at her, baffled. "What the hell is that?"

"It's a tenner," she told him.

"What like the opera singer?"

She laughed. "No. It's money. Muggle money. Sorry, all my galleons are upstairs. Well, are you interested in a bet, Mr Potter?"

They approached the door to the trophy room expecting to hear shouts and bangs and clatterings however, all was still.

James pressed his ear up against the door. "Nothing," he informed Lily. "They've either killed each other or they're snogging. A tenor, or whatever that thing is, says they're snogging."

"No," Lily disagreed. "She'll have done something to him by now. I'm sure of it."

James began to turn the door handle. "Only one way to find out."

Upon her friends' entrance, Olivia jumped back from Sirius in such haste that she knocked the bucket over. Again.

"Look what you made me do," she said to Sirius, but this time she was laughing. She turned to Lily and James. "Doesn't anybody knock anymore?"

"Sorry Liv," James apologised hastily. "We, um, forgot you were in here."

"Like hell you did," Olivia said disbelievingly.

"Alright," admitted Lily. "We were spying on you. But it's not exactly as though there was nothing to hide was there? Olivia, are you sure you know what you're getting yourself into?"

Olivia regarded Sirius: his tousled dark mane, his endearing eyes, his cheeky grin and she resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't going to be able to continue to resist him. Not when he smelled so good.

She turned back to her friend and nodded.

"Now if we could have some peace," Sirius jerked his head towards the door, indicating James and Lily's swift exit: They closed the door firmly behind them.

"I think you have something of mine, Miss Evans," James said once they were out in the Hallway once more.

Reluctantly, Lily pulled the ten pound note out of her back pocket and clapped it down in James' hand.

"Something wrong, Lil?" James asked off her expression.

"Guess I'm gonna have to get used to not being the hot, new couple around here anymore," she sighed.

"You hated being the hot, new couple," James reminded her. "Besides, you'll always be hot and new in my eyes."

And with that he grabbed her in a kiss which swept her – literally – off her feet and he proceeded to carry her back to Gryffindor tower.


	22. Chapter 22: A Death In The Family

Chapter 22

The serenity at the breakfast table was nice. That was the only way to describe it. Nice. For the first time since New Year there had been no squabbling of any kind over the waffles. Everyone seemed perfectly content.

Annie and Remus were sitting beside each other; her hand was resting on his as he attempted to cut his bacon with his other, available hand.

Lily was laughing at another of James' stupid jokes, regretting teaching him knock knock jokes over Christmas.

Peter seemed completely happy just to sit at the table among good company, looking up at the clear sky above him.

Sirius and Olivia were barely even acknowledging the existence of anyone else. They were speaking in hushed tones over their cereal and smiling coyly at each other.

Lily couldn't remember the last time she had seen the world through such rose-tinted glasses.

The morning post swooped down upon them. Owls bearing news flew down on each of the tables. There were the usual tawny owls of the daily prophet amongst the snowy and barn owls.

A letter fluttered down from one of the black owls and landed on James cornflakes. James looked at it in horror and dread, fearing it's contents.

The rest of the group shared in his anxiety and communally held their breath as James went to pick it up. He turned to Lily for support; she squeezed his hand and looked up at him.

He inhaled heavily, bringing a quivering hand to the envelope. Cautiously, he tore it open and shakily removed it's contents.

As James skimmed his eyes down the parchment, Lily waited with baited breath. She looked closely at his face: a solitary tear ran down the bridge of his nose.

He hastily wiped it away.

"James," Lily eyed him in concern.

"Mate, who is it?" asked Sirius.

James gulped. "My Dad."

Remus glanced down at the letter. "Is he…?"

"He's in St. Mungo's for spell damage, recovering," James replied, still in shock. "I…I've got to go there."

He turned and walked away from the table.

Lily made a move to follow him, but Sirius placed a firm hand on hers. "Just give him a moment alright," he said softly. "Let it sink in."

James collapsed on to one of the marble benches in the Entrance Hall as soon as he was out of view. Hiding his face in his hands, he removed his steamed-up glasses and opened the floodgates, his tears cascading down on the parchment, smudging the ink.

By the time he had pulled himself together, Lily was standing beside him.

He turned away from her. He couldn't bear for her to see him cry.

"You don't have to be strong for me, you know," she gave him a weak smile. "Everything doesn't have to be fine. Everything can be horrible and painful and hard if you need it to be."

She clenched his hand tightly.

He did not look up at her. He kept his gaze directed firmly towards the floor. "When I was younger, before Sirius came to live with us, we had this tradition. Every year on Christmas Eve we would go out to watch the fireworks. Just the three of us.

"We'd pitch a tent up on the hill by our house and we'd always be the only ones up there because everybody else went into the town centre to watch the display. And every year I'd complain because I wanted to be down in the village with all the other kids and my mum would be getting freezing because she always forgot her jacket.

"But then the fireworks would start and my Dad would put his arm around us both and say we didn't need to go into the village. We didn't need anybody else as long as he had us and we had him."

Silent tears began to stream down his cheeks again. "I'm sorry," he apologised. "I don't want you to have to see me like this."

Lily kissed him tenderly, brushing away his tears. She crouched down in front of him to be at his eye-level. "Do you want me to come to St. Mungo's with you?" she offered.

He hesitated.

"I'm sure I could talk to McGonagall about it and catch up with work. next week. I want to at least make sure you get there okay," she said, her voice full of concern.

James lifted his head slightly to let his gaze meet Lily's. "I'll see if we can work something out."

Lily spent the rest of her day trying to get McGonagall on her own to talk to her about James. By the time she tracked down her professor it was almost nightfall, although by the view from her office window, you would the sun had already set.

Ominous black clouds rolled through the sky while lightning crackled and flashed through the blur of the raindrops.

Knocking tentatively on the door, Lily was ushered in by a nervous looking Professor McGonagall. Her hair was up in it's usual knot but it was not as tight as normal; odd hairs straggled haphazardly over her face and her horn-rimmed glasses were on scewiff.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"It's about James," Lily answered.

"Oh yes. Poor, old Harold. What happened was just dreadful: The cruciatus at his age, it's a wonder it didn't kill him. How on Earth Sally is coping with this, I'll never know…" McGonagall trailed off, lost in her won thoughts.

"Actually, that why I'm here," Lily bean to explain. "James is going to visit his Dad tomorrow at St. Mungo's and I really think he could do with a little support; he's taken this really badly."

McGonagall nodded gravely. "I'll request to Professor Dumbledore that Mr. Black and yourself have permission to leave tomorrow with Mr. Potter. I'll ask Professor Slughorn to accompany the three of you down to Hogsmeade tomorrow morning after breakfast."

"Thank-you," Lily smiled.

Flashing her back the tiniest of smiles, McGonagall opened the door to let Lily leave.

"I did it, James," Lily entered the common room to find a bunch of people gathered around James expressing their condolences.

She pushed through the crowd until she was in between James and the marauders. "James, McGonagall says Sirius and I can leave school with you for the next couple of day."

She glanced at Sirius but he was looking shiftily at the ground.

"Um, sorry," he said, failing to meet her eyes. "I have to, um…" He trailed off as he began to walk towards the girls' dormitories. But the moment his foot touched the first step, the wood underneath it became smooth. Sliding down the stairs he landed at the bottom of them in a heap.

"Damn it. I forgot about that," he muttered under his breath.

"Olivia," he called up the stairs.

Olivia slumped down the stairs, clearly not her usual self.

"Liv are you okay?" Sirius asked. He looked at her closer, "Have you been crying?"

She wiped smudges of mascara off her face and nodded slowly nodded.

He wrapped his arms around her. "Shh, it's okay; don't cry," he reassured her as she started sobbing again. "Listen. I'm leaving tomorrow for a couple of days with James and Lily to visit Harry in hospital, but Remus and Annie and Peter will be here."

"You're leaving?" she looked up at him, her eyes welling up.

"Liv, you'll be fine," he assured her.

"But I need you here," Olivia looked at him desperately.

"Come on, Liv. We've only been going out a day. Yesterday you couldn't stand the sight of me," Sirius reasoned. "And right now James needs me more. He's my brother, Liv."

Olivia nodded in her acceptance.

Kissing her lightly on the forehead, Sirius turned and left the common room.

He crept silently through the corridors towards Ravenclaw's side of the school and as quietly as possible, he turned the handle of an abandoned charms classroom.

Except it wasn't all that abandoned.

Sitting on one of the desks playing with her long, wavy, blonde hair was Pamela Brown, a very pretty sixth year Ravenclaw. "Hello stranger," she said coyly, waving seductively at Sirius.

Hopping down from her perch she walked over to Sirius and kissed him.

It took him a minute to retaliate. After a few seconds of being enchanted by her intoxicating kiss he remembered what he was there for. He pulled away from her lips.

Suddenly she was wearing a look of confusion. "Is something the matter?" she asked, stroking a finger up his arm.

He looked her square on in the eyes, feeling slightly disgusted with himself. "It's Olivia."

"That girl you like?" she asked.

Sirius nodded. "We got together."

"Oh, good for you," Pamela said, smiling genuinely. "You've been after that one for ages."

"Yeah, that's the thing." Sirius took a deep breath. "I can't see you anymore."

Her face was back to confusion. "You've had girlfriends before."

"Yeah, but none that cared about me so much. At least none that I cared about. I've been wanting her for so long. And I mean for more than just a quick shag. I really don't want to screw this up." He regarded her face. "Sorry, Pam."

"It's okay," she said warmly. "I understand." She kissed him softly on the lips. "Goodbye, Sirius Black."

With that she left the room. Leaving Sirius on his own to realise that, for the first time in his life: He was not truly alone.


	23. Chapter 23: An Easy Mistake To Make

The next morning as soon as the plates were cleared, Professor Slughorn approached the Gryffindor table. Lily and James immediately stood. Sirius tightened his grip on Olivia's hand and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"I'll be back soon," he assured her.

"I'll miss you," she said softly.

Sirius laughed. "We haven't been together long enough for you to miss me."

"I've known you for six years," she said incredulously.

"Fine," he agreed. "But you don't _like_ me enough to miss me," he pointed out.

"Can't argue with that."

He chuckled and kissed her again. "Bye."

Lily, James and Sirius stepped out with Slughorn into the frosty morning and along the path to Hogsmeade.

The walk to the village passed silently. Sirius was still silently missing Olivia. James was afraid of opening his mouth for fear of anything he said being accompanied by a sob Lily remained too scared to mention anything to James after his last emotional outpour. She was still feeling overwhelmed from seeing him without his hardened exterior.

They reached the station, bid Slughorn farewell and embarked the train. The journey passed with a minimal exchange of words. Lily spent most of the train ride fidgeting with her fingers and Sirius was staring out of the window while James continually paced the carriage.

When the train eventually ground to a halt at Kings Cross, the three of them disembarked to find James' mother waiting on the platform. Her dirty blonde hair was swept off her face in a messy bun and was streaked with considerably more grey than Sirius could recall seeing at Christmas. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and there was no colour in her face.

It seemed the second James' foot touched the platform he was at his mother's side. Sirius was quick to follow.

Lily approached the scene with caution. It felt somehow as if she was trespassing on a private family moment. They often said Sirius and James could have passed as brothers, but it was something more than that. Especially since Sirius' own family was off the radar; they had an unspoken bond that in some ways Lily was a little jealous of. No matter how close she and James became, no wedding anniversary or even child could ever replace the relationship between the two boys.

Sirius looked over to Lily, beckoning her towards them. She replaced Sirius' hand on James' shoulder. Taking the smallest of steps backwards, Sirius smiled at her.

"Well, we should be getting on, hospital visiting hours start in 15 minutes," Sally said, taking James and Lily's hands. "Sirius, grab on. We're apparating."

As Sirius lunged for her wrist, Lily felt a familiar lurching sensation in the pit of her stomach as the platform was wrenched from beneath her.

The blinding white they were spiralled into caused Lily to clench her eyes shut for a moment while she got her bearings. She opened her eyes to find herself in the sparkling atrium of St. Mungo's where their party was currently being greeted by a smiling, blonde medi-witch in perfectly crisp white robes.

"We're here to see Harold Potter," Mrs Potter informed her.

"Jane, do we have a Harold Potter?" she asked a bushy haired witch to her left.

"Yes, Harry's the auror staying in room 103 for spell damage," she directed them down a corridor to their right. "Poor guy, he had a lucky escape if you ask me. With a little treatment he should regain full use of his memory, however there may still be a few gaps over the last couple of months. For now he can only remember as recently as 1955."

At this, Sally sobbed. "The year we met."

"Well, it will be good for him to see familiar faces; it'll help him regain memories faster."

The blonde medi-witch pushed open the huge oaken doors to room 103. "Well, here you go Mrs Potter." She turned to Harry. "Mr Potter, your family is here to see you." 

"Thank you, Millie," Harry sat up in his bed revealing blue stripy pyjamas.

"It's Mandy," said the medi-witch. She turned to see Sally's crestfallen face. "He's getting better already. I was Brenda at the beginning of the week."

Sally smiled weakly and turned to her husband. "Harry?" she whispered softly.

"Sal?" he looked up at her.

She threw her arms around him with such force, his tasselled nightcap was knocked clean off his head.

"You know who I am? I mean, you remember me?"

"Of course I remember you, you're my wife. And that must be James, I can only recall you as a baby, but I'm working on remembering your first birthday."

The room had gone silent the boy Harry was now speaking to was not James, but Sirius."

"Dad?" James' voiced cracked mid-word, tears welling in his eyes.

"James, I-" Harry could not muster a response.

Lily grabbed Sirius by the wrist. "Come on," she tugged him out of the room leaving the Potters to reconcile.


	24. Chapter 24: A Little close for Comfort

She had been fidgeting her fingers so long in the waiting room that Lily's hands were starting to ache. Sirius' hand was clammy on her shoulder and she couldn't decide if his heavy breathing was comforting or just irritating.

"So how long do you reckon they're gonna be in there?" Sirius asked agitatedly.

"I don't know," Lily sighed, exasperated. "I didn't know five minutes ago and I don't know now."

The door knob to Harold's room twitched and James and his mother burst out.

Lily leapt up at him. "How are you? How- how is he?"

James ran his hand through his hair. "He'll be fine." James swallowed, hard. "He just has to go through a few more weeks of therapy than we thought."

The Potter House seemed bigger than it had over Christmas. Perhaps it was the absence of fifty raucous party guests and a few barrels of firewhiskey, but it seemed some of the spirit had left the house.

The Death Eater attack of late had left its mark upon the house: charred walls, broken vases. Sally had clearly not had the strength to tidy up yet.

The four of them had sat around the table in the breakfast room in silence for almost an hour now, their teas slowly getting cold.

Announcing he needed to sleep, James left the table, a blank look in his eyes, his voice monosyllabic. Everyone agreed it was time to call it a night and with muffled yawns they all proceeded upstairs.

The sunlight crept into Lily's room through the break in the curtains, streaming golden winter sunshine onto her bed.

Groaning slightly, she leaned over to her bedside table to check her watch. Letting out a sigh she heaved herself out of bed: she never had been much of a one for lie-ins.

She had almost begun slipping out of her pyjamas when she decided to check on James quickly.

Lily darted across the corridor and carefully pushed open his door. His room hadn't changed at all: the same posters, photos, furniture. The only difference was to James' bed. With him in it, looking at peace for the first time in a week it gave the whole room a different aura.

Deciding the bed looked too big to be cosy for one, Lily hopped in beside James, snuggled underneath the covers and edged closer to James. Wrapping her arm around his body she realised he wasn't wearing a shirt. She swallowed, hard. But nevertheless, she planted a soft kiss on his lips and drifted back off to sleep.

James could hear her breath gliding past his ear; feel her heart beating alongside his.

"Lily," he moaned. "You feel so good in the morning, so soft, so- Argh!" He shrieked as he opened his eyes.

Lily woke with a start.

"You're here," he noted quizzically.

"Well, of course I'm here, you great goof," Lily answered. "You were just telling me how great it was to have me here."

"You heard that?" he asked, panic-stricken.

Lily laughed unnaturally. "Of course I did, you were talking to me."

James echoed her laugh. "You were _not_ supposed to hear that!"

Her eyes widened. "Oh yeah? And why's that?"

"You're not supposed to hear me dreaming about you."

Lily laughed her natural carefree laugh. "You go ahead and dream all you want. Just leave it in your dreams, for now. Now, go put something decent on; we've got to be at King's Cross in an hour."

Suddenly James became very aware that all that was in between him and the girl of his dreams was a couple of flimsy pieces of cotton. (Possibly polywool mix, one can never be sure in this day and age.)

Attempting to keep his dignity by covering himself with his duvet, he stood. "Oi, turn around," he ordered.

"You can't tell me what-"

"You're the one who got me all worked up, prancing in here in the middle of the night wearing that flimsy little thing. Do you actually want to catch a chill?" he interrupted, indicating her nightie.

"First off, it was not the middle of the night, it was seven in the morning. Second, this is a perfectly appropriate nightie; I wear it all the time at school. And Thirdly, I've already had my flu jab this year," Lily retaliated with conviction.

"Well, regardless," James said, bringing himself up to his full height, a hearty 6"3.

"Just give me five minutes more," she implored, drawing nearer, "then you can do what you like."

Before he was given a chance to argue, Lily was pressing her warm body against his; her lips soft on his own.

Feeling his chest hard against hers, wrapping her arms round his bare back, knowing how little there was between them, Lily pondered that this was a feeling she might be able to get used to.


	25. Chapter 25: The Way We Were

Sorry this chapter's taken so long to get up. Blame my exams, not me

xxxxxxxxx

After breakfast, having been ushered into the fire by Mrs Potter, Lily stepped out of it and was greeted by a pair of familiar, sparkling, blue eyes. Within a few minutes the three of them were back in Gryffindor Tower where Remus, Peter, Annie and Olivia were eagerly awaiting their return.

With his friends around him, James thought he would feel better but he just wanted to be alone with Lily again. Forced to recount the weekend's events, James sat reluctantly in the common room. After what seemed like hours of conversation, James had had enough. "I think I'm going to go to the head dorms," he stated. "I need some space." He walked out the portrait hole, shutting it behind him,

After James' departure all eyes turned on Lily.

"Well?" asked Annie.

"Well what?" Lily responded.

"Aren't you going to follow him?" she asked.

Lily paused to think for a moment. Would James really want her there? Didn't he say the heads' dorm was where he went when he needed peace and quiet? However a voice in the back of her head reminded her that he had also said that she was always welcome company.

In the end she decided she should probably check on James, so she left the common room to find him.

For a Sunday morning Hogwarts was eerily silent. Lily made her way through the deserted corridors to a portrait of an old man on the 5th floor. "Beadle," she said to it confidently. The man nodded his wrinkled head "That's the one.

Lily clambered into her alternate dormitory. It was more spacious than she had imagined. There was plenty of room for two. For a moment she allowed herself to imagine what it would be like to live there, with James.

All of a sudden James appeared in the doorway and she lost her train of thought. His brow furrowed. "What are you doing here?"

"Err-" Lily's mind had temporarily gone blank. "I thought you might need someone to talk to. James you mustn't fret over this too much. It'll all be alright, I know it will."

James nodded. "I know that, honestly," he assured her reading the look of concern on her face. "I just didn't feel like being up in Gryffindor Tower with all those people. I didn't expect you to follow me though."

"Why wouldn't I come after you? I had to check you were okay."

"I'm fine, but I know how much this room freaks you out," James laughed for the first time in a week. It was a relief for Lily. Sorrow did not suit James.

"It doesn't freak me out," Lily protested, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Do I look freaked out?" she asked planting a soft kiss on his cheek.

"I thought you didn't want to – you know – yet. I thought you weren't ready," James said quizzically.

"I'm not. But that doesn't mean I can't do this," she kissed his left cheek, "or this," she kissed his right cheek, "or this." Lily pulled him close to her, pressing his lips roughly up against her own. Her lips parted, allowing their breath to mingle.

James' hands wandered down her body from her red curls down between her shoulder blades to the small of her back where they rested, not wishing to intrude further.

Pleased with her efforts to distract James, Lily pulled away in an attempt to coax him out of his recluse and back up to Gryffindor Tower. She tugged on his hand, trying to get him to move.

"James, come on, aren't you coming back with me?" she asked.

He hesitated. "Would- would it be okay if maybe- would you stay here with me?"

Lily looked at his pleading face, the one she found it impossible to say no to. "Of course," she replied.

"In here," he indicated his bedroom. "Don't worry, I won't try anything, scout's honour," he added, sensing her apprehension.

He led her into his room which was decorated similarly to the one she had been in earlier that morning. Photos of the marauders plastered the walls and on the bedside table stood one solitary, frameless. It was an old photo and Lily doubted whether she had even noticed it being taken.

James sat down on the crimson quilting and gently pulled at Lily's hand, encouraging her to follow suit. She was pleasantly surprised at how comfortably she fitted in the crook of his arm. Leaning back she felt his chest hard beneath him, his strong arm around her and his warm breath on the back of her neck.

They stayed there for hours, just sitting, occasionally exchanging a few words. They both relished the silence and the quiet peace of simply being.

xxxxxxxxx

When Lily, James and Sirius had entered the common room, Olivia had to put all her self control into restraining herself from jumping into Sirius' arms. She had never felt so deprived. Perhaps it her unconditional undying love for the boy. Then again, perhaps not.

However there was still the matter that she had not even considered hooking up with anyone else in the time they'd been apart. The truth was that she didn't think anyone else could compete. The feeling of Sirius' lips on hers was indescribable. It even occurred to Olivia that she might have feelings for him – nothing as profoundly soppy as the "love" professed by her best friends, but there was definitely something there.

The sight of Olivia on her favourite armchair by the fire as he entered the common room was enough to make him forget the anxiety he had been experiencing all weekend.

He would never have believed that he, Sirius Black, could feel this strongly for any one person at any one time. Just the sight of her drove him crazy. Her hair looked messier than ever due to her running her hand through it every few seconds and her lips held the subtlest of smiles.

After Lily and James had rushed off to the head dormitories and Annie and Remus had retreated back to their usual spot in the corner, Peter, Sirius and Olivia were left sitting in awkward silence. A few minutes passed before Peter muttered something about the library and scurried off.

Lost in thought, Sirius suddenly felt a warm hand on his thigh. He turned to face Olivia. Her eyes darted towards the door of the boys' dormitory and then back to him.

Understanding what she meant by this, Sirius grabbed her hand and led her upstairs to his dormitory. He took her face in his hands and urgently pressed his lips against his own. They kissed with such passion as Sirius felt his hands roam down her back and land with conviction around her hips, his fingertips resting just below her jeans.

Olivia's hands meanwhile were moving so needily, desperately searching Sirius' body. She unfurled her fingers from around his waist and slid her hands up underneath his tight, white T-shirt, feeling the taught muscular torso beneath them. As their kiss deepened, she tugged the T-shirt over his head. Olivia paused for a moment to admire his toned chest.

Sirius cleared his throat loudly. "Are you gonna stand there staring all day or are you actually going to do something about it?

She rolled her eyes at him and smirked. Pulling him close to her she began to kiss him again but more tenderly than before.

She felt his hands journey upwards underneath her T-shirt, enjoying the feeling of his rough hands on her skin.

Suddenly they both heard a creak at the door and were greeted by the sight of Annie and Remus. Annie's eyes were drawn immediately to a half naked Sirius whose hand was halfway up her best friend's shirt.

She cleared her throat loudly causing Sirius to realise where his hand was and jump back from Olivia.

"Well," said Olivia, tugging down her shirt. "I should get going. Annie, why don't you come with me?" She dragged her friend out with her. "You ruined my moment I'm ruining yours," she hissed in her ear.

Meanwhile, Sirius was also feeling murderous. "You do realise that's the closest to Liv's bra I've been allowed, don't you? I hope you're happy. Call yourself a marauder? You should be ashamed of yourself."

Remus blushed. "Sorry mate. It wasn't my idea to come up here."

"You mean you two-"

"Not yet, but we're getting pretty close. Anyway, I'm surprised at you two. That's really the furthest you've gone?"

"Don't say it like you think we're a pair of animals."

Remus raised his eyebrows.


	26. Chapter 26: Quick, Quick, Slow

"Well you and Sirius looked pretty snugly there," said Annie suggestively as she and Olivia climbed the stairs down from the boys' dormitory.

"Snugly?" asked Olivia.

"Well, I didn't want to be crude, Annie justified. "So you two eh? When did_**it**_ happen?"

"_**It **_hasn't happened yet." Said Olivia.

"You're kidding me," said Annie disbelievingly.

"We're not animals you know," said Olivia.

Annie raised her eyebrows.

They both turned their heads to the sound of Sirius pounding down the stairs after them. "Liv! Liv! Oi Liv!" He ran up to her, hovering and nervously said, "Um, er, Liv, I was, um, wondering if we could…"

"I'll just leave you guys…" said Annie and she drifted upstairs, leaving the common room deserted.

"Well," said Olivia expectantly looking into Sirius' face.

For the first time in his life Sirius looked nervous. Olivia noticed his hands shaking as he hesitantly broached the subject. "Up there it just seemed kind of like we would, you know, and I just want you to know that I'm not expecting anything."

"Oh," Olivia raised her eyebrows. "Because I was kind of expecting," she pressed herself and against him and whispered, "something." Pulling his chin up to meet her eyes Olivia kissed Sirius deeply and roughly ran her fingers through his hair.

"Wait," said Sirius, pushing Olivia off him and keeping her at arms length. "I don't want to push you into anything. I know that trusting me must be hard after, you know, everything."

Olivia slid her white tank top over her head and glared at Sirius. "Well isn't now just the perfect time to make it up to me?"

Sirius gulped. "Are you sure about this? Are you absolutely sure Liv?"

Olivia ran her fingers under his shirt and kissed him on the neck. "I'm very, very sure."

Sirius decided he didn't need to be told twice. Tearing off his T-Shirt he grabbed Olivia and rolled her onto the rug on the floor. He pinned her down as he leaned in for a strong passionate kiss. He swept a piece of hair out of her eyes and began to softly kiss her chest as she arched her back in response. Sirius' hand reached through the gap between her back and the floor and undid the clasp of her bra.

As Olivia sat up her bra slid off and she tossed it aside. "Um Sirius,"

"I knew it. This is too fast isn't it?" Sirius said, averting his gaze and withdrawing his hands.

"No," Olivia assured him, placing his hands firmly back on her waist. "That's not it at all. I'm just kind of uncomfortable here. Do you mind if we move this somewhere more comfortable?" Olivia slid out from under Sirius, stood up and walked towards the sofa. Slowly she unbuttoned her jeans, shuffled out of them and went to lie down on the sofa.

Sirius remained kneeling on the floor, jaw dropped at the elegance and form of the woman standing in from of him.

"Oi Black! Are you coming or not?" And Sirius was brought back to reality. He unbuckled his belt, took off his jeans and walked up to the sofa. Putting one leg over her he leaned in to press his body against hers. Olivia pulled herself closer to him to feel something pressing into her thigh. She smirked. "Enjoying yourself?" she asked.

Sirius chuckled. "You could say that," he said, bringing his hand slowly up her thigh and resting it in-between her legs. "You seem to be enjoying yourself too," he said.

Olivia giggled as Sirius slid the tip of his fingers under her waistband. "I will be in a moment," she replied. And with that they allowed the night to carry them away.


End file.
